


Passions Redux 2003 - Secrets and Lies

by tessa_k



Series: Passions Redux 2003 [3]
Category: Passions (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-16
Updated: 2020-07-12
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:14:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 31
Words: 67,974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23172991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tessa_k/pseuds/tessa_k
Summary: It's July 2003 in the New England town of Harmony. In an effort to stop Miguel Lopez-Fitzgerald and Charity Standish from consummating their love, Tabitha Lenox casts a spell that reverberates throughout the entire community and alters the course of everyone's storylines. Eve and TC Russell are sent back in time to their youth, when Julian and Eve were still a couple, and shortly after their son was kidnapped by Alistair's henchman.
Relationships: Eve Russell/TC Russell, Julian Crane/Eve Russell, Sam Bennett/Ivy Winthrop
Series: Passions Redux 2003 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1243304
Comments: 41
Kudos: 1





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is one of multiple stories, all part of the same series and taking place concurrently in the same universe. The subtitles are drawn from NBC's old website for Passions, which, in its History section, demarcates the relevant plots and characters as follows...
> 
> Supernatural Shenanigans: Miguel, Charity, Kay, and Tabitha  
> Star-Crossed Lovers: Luis, Sheridan, Beth and Antonio  
> Friends and Lovers: Chad, Whitney, Fox and Theresa  
> Torn: Theresa, Ethan and Gwen  
> Past and Present Collide: Sam, Grace, David, and Ivy  
> Secrets and Lies: TC, Julian, Liz and Eve

Prelude

It's mid-July, 2003, in the New England town of Harmony. Of course life is anything but harmonious for the residents of this picturesque community.

Pregnant Sheridan Crane has been kidnapped by Beth Wallace and her psychotic accomplice, Charlie, and is being held captive in a pit in Beth's basement. Beth is currently faking a pregnancy of her own, and plans to eventually deliver Sheridan's baby and pass it off as her own. "And then we ice the blonde!" Charlie has said on more than one occasion. Beth still hasn't figured out what to do with Charlie once Sheridan's out of the picture; Charlie is in love with her, but Beth's sole ambition in recent years has been to win the heart of her high school sweetheart, Luis Lopez-Fitzgerald.

Of course Luis is currently searching for Sheridan, his long-professed soul mate. Luis has already ordered one town-wide, door-to-door search for Sheridan, only to be overruled by his boss, chief of police Sam Bennett. Despite receiving an email and later a video from Sheridan (she was forced by her masked kidnappers to send the messages), claiming to have left town for Paris, where she hopes to carry her child to term away from all the drama in Harmony. A big part of that drama: Her husband Antonio Lopez-Fitzgerald. Antonio believes Sheridan's messages and thinks Luis' suspicions are unfounded.

Across town at Harmony's tiny domestic airport, Chad Harris, Whitney Russell, and Fox Crane are boarding the Crane private jet, bound for Los Angeles. Whitney is pursuing a singing career there along with boyfriend, Chad, who hopes to make it as a record producer. Fox is going because he carries a torch for Whitney, but his excuse is he wants to get away from his family, in particular his father, Julian. The two have had an acrimonious falling out because Fox recently sold The Blue Note (Harmony's sultry jazz club) to Liz Sanbourne.

Liz is currently at the Russell home, preparing to expose her sister, Eve, who used to sing at the Blue Note many years ago. Liz is banking on Eve's past — which included more than just show tunes — destroying the now upstanding community member and physician. That Eve was once in a relationship with TC's arch enemy, Julian Crane, only makes her downfall more imminent in Liz's eyes. Liz holds an envelope containing a recent photo of Eve and Julian kissing. "I have something I think TC needs to see," she says.

As this is going on, it's a much quieter scene at the Bennett household not so far away. Sam is still struggling with the disintegration of his marriage to Grace, who he recently found in bed with David Hastings, her supposed first husband. Sam is in his bedroom, flipping through a photo album, remembering happier times. The past two years have been nothing but chaos and heartache, ever since it was revealed that Grace had been married to David before they met. And that they share a son, John.

Of course Ivy Crane, who is wheelchair bound and living in the Bennett's garage, was the mastermind behind that deception. She hired David to pose as Grace's husband, also threatening him with some mysterious piece of information any time David began to second guess his decision. Ivy is in the garage suite, getting ready for bed. She considers tipping herself from her wheelchair and calling Sam for help.

Grace and David, meanwhile, are at David's house, sharing a late meal. Grace is trying to find a way to mend her relationship with daughters Kay and Jessica, both of whom resent her for the way things have gone between her and their father. Grace is a devote Catholic, and feels it's important to honour the commitment she made to David all those years ago in front of God. The only family member who has shown her any sympathy is her niece, Charity Standish, but that's unsurprising. Charity has always had a preternaturally caring way.

In fact, it was her wholesomeness (not to mention her fair and wafish beauty) that immediately caught Miguel Lopez-Fitzgerald's attention when Charity first arrived in Harmony four years ago. The two fell deeply in love, but have yet to consummate that love — thanks to the machinations of her cousin Kay Bennett and Tabitha Lenox. Tabitha, a 300-year-old witch, is determined to stop Charity and Miguel from making love, which she says would bring Charity into her full powers as a white witch. Also worth noting: Tabitha is pregnant with the child of Julian Crane, although no one is aware of this yet except Kay.

Charity is currently at Miguel's house. He's comforting her after a string of dark premonitions she had about the whereabouts and fate of Sheridan. They sit on the end of Miguel's bed, Charity leaning into Miguel's strong chest as he holds her. They begin kissing.

Downstairs, Miguel's mother, Pilar, is counselling her daughter, Theresa. They sit in the kitchen, a pot of tea steeping on the table between them.

"Mija, this has gone on long enough," Pilar says. "You need to accept that Ethan is not going to leave Gwen to be with you."

"I know, mama," Theresa says, her voice barely more than a whisper. Her eyes shimmer with tears. "It just isn't fair. How can it really end this way?"

"Life isn't fair, Teresa. Believe me when I say I know a thing or two about that."

Theresa nods, although she's barely listening. She thinks about Ethan Winthrop and Gwen Hotchkiss, who are currently sleeping in their kingsize bed at Crane Manor.

"Teresa, you need to get away from all this pain and heartache," says Pilar. "Whitney and the others are going to Los Angeles. You should go too. A change of scenery will help you get over Ethan once and for all."

"I can't take a vacation right now. What about Little Ethan?" Theresa says.

"I will look after my grandson while you're gone. I think this would be better for Little Ethan in the long run. To have his mother in a healthy, happy frame of mind."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm positive. If you packed quickly, you might still be able to catch them before the Crane jet takes off."

Watching this conversation from afar are Kay and Tabitha, peering into a large magic bowl of water at Tabitha's house.

"Tabitha, I don't care what's going on in Miguel's kitchen, I need to know what's happening in his bedroom," says Kay, irritably. She is eight months pregnant with Miguel's child.

"Alright, alright!" says Tabitha. "Sometimes I feel like I'm tuning an old radio with this bowl." She waves hand over the water's surface and the images change. Now they can see inside Miguel's bedroom and the sight makes Kay's eyes widen in fear. Miguel is no longer holding Charity on the foot of his bed — they have since disrobed and are under the blankets, Charity atop Miguel, rocking her hips slowly as she kisses his face.

"Tabitha!!" Kay screams. "Do something!!"

The sight has terrified the old witch, too. They are almost making love! They must be stopped, before it's too late!

Tabitha immediately sets to work. She grabs handfuls of tiny bottles and tinctures from a nearby shelf and begins pouring them into the bowl with seemingly indiscriminate haste. She's mumbling incantations under her breath all the while. Kay paces the floor behind Tabitha. Her unborn child is restless inside her. Tabitha feels her own spawn kicking and moving about fiercely in her womb.

Charity stops grinding against Miguel long enough to whisper "I love you" and then to take his sizeable manhood and put it inside her. She gasps at the sensation and he looks worried.

"Is it ok? We can stop if—"

"No," Charity says. "I don't want to stop. Just move slowly for now." And Miguel obeys. He strokes her breast with one hand, the other on her hip. The feeling is incredible for both of them, and little by little Charity and Miguel begin moving as one.

"Stop them!" Kay is wailing. "This can't be happening!"

Tabitha isn't paying attention though. She finishes saying the last line of the spell. She rubs her palms together and then———

A light issues from the magic bowl so bright that both women have to shield their eyes. A powerful yet invisible magical force follows. It ripples out from the bowl. It expands outwards through the entire town. It passes through the Lopez-Fitzgerald house, but not before touching nearly everyone in Harmony, some in greater ways than others.

At the Russells', Liz is holding up the envelope as TC and Eve watch on. She reaches in to retrieve the photograph when the wave of energy passes through her. At that very instant, TC and Eve vanish into thin air.

At Crane Manor, Ethan and Gwen sit up in bed simultaneously. Gwen has been having a difficult pregnancy, and the two are still considering moving to L.A. for the remaining two months so that they can be closer to a renown medical specialist. Gwen touches a hand to her stomach. "Ethan, something is ... different," she says.

At David's house, the pulse passes through him and Grace. The feeling startles David who jumps to his feet so suddenly that he is thrown off balance and falls backwards, smashing his head against the wall and crumpling into a heap on the floor.

At the airport, the Crane jet is taxying down the runway. The pilot is just lifting the plane up off the ground as the wave passes through it. All the control dials and lights flicker, and the plane shudders as if from sever turbulence. Whitney screams and clutches at Fox beside her, as Chad watches on.

At the Wallace household, Precious, Edna Wallace's orangutang/live-in nurse, senses the energy pulse before it reaches them. (How is it that animals are always the first to know?) She scampers past Edna and hides under a table. Beth is in the cellar with Charlie dressed in their clown disguises. Beth is leering over the edge of Sheridan's pit, ordering their captive to record a convincing message for Luis and Antonio, when the strange metaphysical force passes through them all. It knocks Beth forward, into the pit.

But most importantly for Tabitha, the spell reaches Miguel and Charity. He has not come to completion, however, Charity orgasms at the very moment the force hits them. The effect is like two trains speeding head-on into each other. A physical aftershock echoes through Harmony.

"What's happening?" Theresa screams, as she and Pilar duck for cover.

Houses across town rumble and shake. Ivy's wheelchair flips over. Grace covers David with her body, fearing that the roof might fall in on him. Beth and Sheridan watch in horror as a small fissure opens up in the dirt pit where they lie sprawled. And at the airport, huge cracks form along the runway. In fact, cracks are appearing around the entire perimeter of Harmony.

The tremor lasts only a few seconds. Except in one place: Tabitha's house.

"Tabitha what have you done??!" Kay screams, clutching her belly protectively.

"I don't know!" Tabitha confesses, shouting over the roar of the earth. Not just the earth — a sound deeper and darker and more sinister than that of an earthquake. Beneath their feet they can feel the warmth of hellfire below the house. Tabitha's magic bowl shatters, spilling water everywhere. Tabitha is stunned.

"We have to get out of here!" says Kay, grabbing one of the witch's heavily bangled wrists. "Come on!"

The house is falling apart around them as they rush past the basement door — (seconds later it explodes off its hinges, spewing flames and the stench of sulphur) — and stumble out into the front yard. Sam comes out of his house next door just in time to see Kay fall to her knees. He rushes to her, shouting her name. Kay is sobbing and holding her belly. Sam kneels beside her, trying to ask if she's OK, if there's anyone else inside.

Tabitha doesn't hear any of this though. She's standing, numb, facing her home as it is engulfed in flames. She holds a hand to her own stomach, which moments before had been round and full with child like Kay's. Tabitha's stomach is flat now, as though her own pregnancy has vanished in a puff of smoke...


	2. Chapter 2

“What is it, Liz?” TC asks.

Except Liz is gone. The whole room is gone. In the blink of an eye it was all disappeared, the entire house, Liz, Eve. He stands on an empty plot of land. Almost a field at the edge of Harmony. Harmony except… not Harmony. That’s when he realizes he is not alone. There is a beautiful young woman standing just a few feet away. She has a hand to her face, she pinches the bridge of nose wearily, her eyes closed.

“Just tell him, Liz. I’m sick of this. Sick of all the secrecy and lies. Just tell him the truth and explain why you kept it from him for so long.”

“Eve?” TC is amazed. The young woman sounds just like his wife. In fact, as he stares at her longer, he realizes she also resembles his wife.

She opens her eyes. “TC?” She looks around, perplexed. “Where are we?”

“I was just about to ask you the same thing. Where are we and… Wait, who are you? You’re not Eve.”

It is at that moment Eve realizes the man in front of her sounds like TC and looks like TC — but it’s the TC of her youth. Of _their_ youth. This man looks just slightly younger than TC had when they first met. The missing 30+ years hadn’t registered for Eve until now.

“TC, you look… young!”

“I … I…” He stared down at his hands and marvelled at the smoothness of his skin. “I am. _We_ are!” At that moment it’s clear to both of them they are who they claim to be. It’s like the aging process has been magically rewound.

He moves to embrace Eve, however, a sharp pain shoots through his knee and all the way up his body to his shoulder. He cries out and falls onto the cool ground. It’s a warm summer night — (is it July here, too?) — but the grass is damp with evening dew. The pain is familiar, though it hasn’t been so severe since his youth. It is his injury. The one he sustained in the hit-and-run. The one that ended his promising tennis career and left his father’s few remaining years marred by disappointment.

“TC!” Eve kneels beside him. “Are you alright?”

“It’s my leg… Fuck, it feels as fresh as if…” He trails off and they look at each other with a kind of dawning realization. They look towards town and suddenly TC recognizes where they are. This empty patch of land is where their house _should_ be. Where their whole street should be. The subdivision where the Russells live was relatively new; it hadn’t been built until the mid-1980s.

“It can’t be…” TC breaths, the pain from his leg momentarily forgotten.

“Roll onto your good side, TC,” Eve says. She sounds like Dr. Eve Russell now — which seems strange and surreal coming from this woman barely over 20. TC follows her instructions, wincing but not objecting as Eve unbuttons his pants and carefully slides them down. This is especially challenging because their clothes have changed, too, along with their bodies and their location; TC now wears a pair of tight-fitting bellbottom jeans, which were the style in the late 60s and early 70s. When Eve has the pants down around TC’s ankles they both marvel at what they see. Radiating up and down from TC’s knee are the scars of his accident. They aren’t happened-yesterday fresh, but they definitely looked less than a year old.

“Eve, how is any of this possible?”

“I don’t know,” Eve says, a chill sweeping through her. She helps TC to get his pants back up, then supports him as he gets back on his feet. “It’s like we’ve travelled back in time. Fallen down the rabbit hole or through the looking glass…”

They hold each other.

“Where are we supposed to go?” Eve asks finally. Their home is gone, their friends, their whole lives. That is when Eve puts a hand to her mouth. “The girls!” She feels weak. Whitney and Simone would not have been born yet.

TC hasn’t thought of this until now either. Their precious daughters, the two most important people in the world to them, no longer exist. Snuffed out like they were just a dream. He feels a lump in his throat. What caused this? And how can they reverse it?

As if reading his mind, Eve asks just that: “TC, how do we get back to 2003? And where are we going to stay until we figure that out?”

“I don’t know about your first question, but I have an idea about the second one. It all depends on what year we’ve landed in. C’mon, let’s go.”

Leaning on Eve for support, he makes his way through the field towards the nearest block of houses. They are walking through what will one day be their neighbourhood, the street where little Whitney will learn to ride her bike and where Simone and Kay will spend hours drawing elaborate hop scotch patterns in chalk. He can feel himself getting emotional as he thinks about the lifetime of memories they created, all gone. All the young people of Harmony he’s coached and has known through his own kids, through his friends like Sam and Grace — Kay and Miguel and Reese and Charity, and the slightly older ones too like Ethan and Theresa and Fox — none of them exist anymore.

He doesn’t know how they are going to reverse this, but he’s never been more determined to accomplish something in his life. His old life and this new-old life…


	3. Chapter 3

They walk through the neighbourhoods of Harmony, marvelling at what are utterly unremarkable sights to the town’s current denizens. The architecture of the little houses, the street lamps, the cars. For all her knowledge and expertise in the realm of medicine, Eve doesn’t know architecture and she doesn’t know cars. But they all definitely look dated by 21st century standards. The effect of walking through the neighbourhood is like being in a dream.

TC leans on Eve for support as they move. It’s after dark so the sidewalks are quiet. “It’s not much further,” he says.

Before Eve can respond, she feels a stab of pain in her lower abdomen. She winces and stops walking for a second, almost causing TC to fall onto her.

“Is everything OK?”

She nods.

“Sorry about that, I don’t know what happened,” she says, taking a breath. “Just a cramp I guess.”

“Let’s slow down then.” TC still hasn’t told Eve where he’s taking them. He knows the year is at least 1968 because he recognizes the ‘68 Chevrolet Camaro in Mr. Plimpton’s driveway, which means chances are he (TC) is still living with his father and mother. After his accident, he had been forced to move out of the single apartment he rented near the local fitness centre and tennis courts. With all his training, he’d wanted to be as close as possible. His father had never minded the drives across town for their daily practices. But the building had no elevator, and TC’s road to recovery was going to be long…

Eve doesn’t need TC to say anything for her to know where they’re going. Although Reginald “Reggie” Russell had died just before Eve and TC started dating, Geraldine, TC’s mother, had lived on in the family home until her death in the mid-1990s. She and Eve had enjoyed a close bond, the kind of mother-daughter relationship Eve had missed out on when she ran away to Boston as a teenager.

She is jolted back to reality by another pain, somewhere between her abdomen and groin. She manages to hide the hurt from TC, instead focusing all her attention on him as if he’s one of her patients. She thinks about his injury and the fact that _she_ , not Julian, was behind the wheel at the time… The guilt makes her wince more than her physical pain does. Helping him now is the least she can do.

‘If TC’s injury is as recent as I think it is, then it must be… 1967? 1968?’ Eve wonders. But before she can ponder the question any further, they arrive at the Russell home, a modest white bungalow on a block of similar, post-war cookie cutter houses.

They walk up the steps and each take in a deep, nervous breath.

“Eve, something just occurred to me…”

She knows what he’s going to say before the words leave his mouth. The same thought has come to her.

“What happened to the ‘us’ of this time period? What if there’s another TC Russell and Eve Johnson in this world?”

Eve doesn’t have a satisfactory answer. Her stomach continues to pain her and she really needs to sit down. “I guess we’re about to find out,” she says.

TC knocks at the door, forgetting this is his home. When his mother comes to the door she laughs and says, “Son, now what are you doing knocking at this door? I thought you were upstairs.” Her smile falters when it registers that TC is with a woman she’s never met. A beautiful young woman in knee-high boots and a purple mini dress with flared sleeves. Eve is looking — in the parlance of that era — _foxy_.

“I…” TC falters.

His mother sees he is leaning on Eve for support and immediately moves to take TC from her and guide him to the living room sofa. “Your leg’s paining you bad, isn’t it honey?” she asks, concern in her voice.

“I can’t say for sure whether it’s the patellar fracture that’s causing this, or if this is a case of claudication,” Eve says. “Just too much stress and pressure is limiting blood flow to the damaged muscles up and down his leg.”

Geraldine’s eyes widen. “Since when did doctors start practicing so young?” she says. “Or come ‘a calling dressed like _this_.”

Eve blushes.

“Ma, this is Eve Johnson,” TC says. “She happened upon me out there when my leg started hurting. I went for a walk.”

“I didn’t hear you go out. And you went without your crutch! Child, what did you expect to happen?”

“I’m not a kid,” TC says, sounding very much like a stubborn little boy.

Geraldine smiles and rubs a non-existent smudge from his chin with her thumb. “Don’t I know it.”

He feels a lump in throat. He is looking at his mother. His mother. The last time he laid eyes on that face, it was lined with wrinkles, taking one last breath from her bed at Harmony Hospital. TC had been so distraught upon her death, he hadn’t been able to bring himself to look at her in the open casket before her funeral. But now here she is, in front of him, alive again and full of all the vitality that had been legendary in their community.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Eve says extending a hand. Geraldine shakes it, eyeing the young woman with a certain thinly veiled suspicion. “I don’t recognize you. And I never forget a face. What you doing walking around Harmony at this hour, looking like this?”

Eve is feeling faint. It’s the pain in her lower abdomen.

“Good lord, child, you’re trembling,” said Geraldine. “Come, sit down right here.” And now she takes Eve to the love seat across the room from TC. “I’ll be right back with some water.”

As soon as Geraldine is gone, TC tries to stand and go to Eve but his leg isn’t cooperating. “Eve, what’s wrong?” he whispers.

She tries to wave it off like it’s nothing. “I don’t know. Maybe it’s just motion sickness from traveling 35 years in less than a second…” She caught a glimpse of a calendar by the front door when they came inside. It is July 1968. Something about this date is triggering a memory for her, but she can’t quite put her finger on it.

Before TC can say anything else, Geraldine has returned with the water for Eve. She thanks Geraldine and takes a big gulp, hoping that will quell the stabs of pain. It doesn’t.

“So Miss Johnson, what brings you to Harmony? You’re a city girl, I can tell.”

“Half-right,” Eve says with a smile, and she’s being honest. “I’m actually from a small town in the South originally. But Boston’s been home the last few years.”

“Eve’s in town visiting Sam Bennett,” TC says.

Surprise flickers across Eve’s face. At that very moment, Reginald enters the room, causing a welcome distraction, however momentary.

“I thought I heard talking,” he says in his deep, baritone voice. He strides to the love seat and extends a hand to Eve. She rises to greet him, but he gestures for her stay seated. “Now who’s this lovely lady?”

“I was just trying to establish that,” says Geraldine, her eyes narrowing.

“I’m Eve Johnson,” Eve says, taking this opportunity to avoid looking at TC’s mother. “I’m just passing through town.”

“Visiting Ben’s son, did I hear that right?” Reginald asks, referring to police chief Benjamin Bennett.

“Well, sort of, yes,” she says. Her mind is racing as she calculates the dates, trying to remember when Grace came to town, when Julian and Ivy got married. “I’m more a friend of his girlfriend, Ivy Winthrop.”

“Sam Bennett is dating a governor’s daughter?” Reginald lets out a bark of laughter. “Never thought I’d see the day. No doubt Governor Winthrop isn’t too pleased about this.”

“Maybe I misspoke,” Eve says quickly. “Maybe they aren’t quite dating. I shouldn’t have said anything.”

“I can keep a secret,” he says with a wink. “So does that mean you’re single? Because I happen to know of a single young man about your age.”

“Reginald!” Geraldine says hotly.

“Dad!”

Reginald raises his hands defensively, a grin on his face. “Not my intention to offend!”

“Dad, mom, can you please give us a moment alone,” TC says. His head is swimming. His father is alive and carrying on like he used to. TC also can’t believe how easily he’s fallen back into his old ways of being. It truly is like he’s a boy again, and not a grown man himself with children of his own.

“I’ll put on some tea,” says Geraldine. “Unless Miss Johnson has somewhere to be?”

“No ma’am,” Eve says.

When his parents leave the room, TC manages to get up onto his feet and move across to join Eve on the love seat.

“I’m in town visiting _Sam Bennett_?” she says in an angry, hushed tone. “How was I supposed to justify _that_?”

“I know, I know, not a good excuse,” TC agrees. “But I had to think of something. And if that calendar by the front door is accurate, then Sam just got out of the police academy and is renting a two-bedroom apartment on Main Street.”

“You can remember something like that and yet you always need Whitney to remind you of our anniversary?”

“We had some amazing parties that summer,” he says. (“ _This_ summer,” a voice in his head reminds him.) “Anyway, I know that second bedroom is empty, and I’m sure I can come up with some excuse to tell Sam why I need you to stay there for a little while. Until we sort everything out.”

Eve tries to imagine what a young Ivy Winthrop would have to say about her paramour becoming roommates with another woman? But then again, Eve isn’t totally sure Sam and Ivy are together by now. She can’t remember the exact timeline of their passionate early years…

“Okay, that sounds good,” Eve says. The cramping pain starts up again, and she can’t stand it any longer. “TC, I need to go to the bathroom.”

She stands and makes her way down the hall, almost bumping into Geraldine as she goes. “I’m sorry,” Eve says. “Just going to freshen up.” It’s only when she puts her hand on the doorknob that she realizes her error. She turns back to Geraldine, who hasn’t moved, tea tray in her hands. “Is this the bathroom?”

Geraldine nods. “It’s almost like you’ve been here before,” she says, an edge of suspicion in her voice.

Eve says nothing, hastily shutting the door behind her. She breaths deeply, then moves to the toilet, hikes up her skirt, and lowers herself onto the bowl. It’s been so long since she’s worn a skirt like this, she’s out of practice. She relieves herself but makes a discovery. The medical term immediately pings into her mind: lochia discharge.

Now it all makes sense. The pain, the cramping, the significance of July 1968. Eve feels dizzy. She sits down on the edge of the bath tub.

This is just a week or two after she gave birth to her son. The son that Alistair Crane had kidnapped…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd been hoping there was some way I could avoiding naming a specific date, but I found it was just too hard. I'm sure that using 1968 means things like ages and ages of children don't add up in the long run, so just don't fixate too closely on that year. ^_^


	4. Chapter 4

“No way, TC!” says Sam, shaking his head. “I don’t know what you’ve got yourself into, but I can’t have some random woman staying with me. Ivy would flip! _My dad_ would flip.”

The best friends are standing in Sam’s kitchen. Although Eve is waiting in the hallway outside the apartment, she can hear everything through the door.

“Sam, please,” TC pleads. “I wouldn’t be asking if it wasn’t an emergency. Eve has nowhere to stay, and she obviously can’t stay at my house. We told them Eve is a friend of yours and Ivy’s.”

By now it’s close to midnight. Sam had been doing some sit-ups and push-ups — part of his nightly fitness routine — when TC and Eve arrived. He wears nothing but a pair of track shorts. Sweat glistens on his chest and at his temples.

“Who is this girl? I’ve never heard you mention any ‘Eve’ before, and now you’re acting like you’ve known her for years.”

“It hasn’t been years, man. We started seeing each other while you were still at the police academy. A lot has happened since then,” he says, lifting one of his crutches. He hates to milk his injury like this, but he knows it will get Sam on his side in an instant.

When Sam learned about the accident, and that Julian Crane was responsible, he’d been ready to kill the rich playboy. He swore that once he had his badge, investigating Julian Crane would be his top priority. Of course once he graduated from the police academy, the realities of the job set in. He didn’t have the authority to launch an investigation to avenge his best friend’s tennis career. There were definitely days when he wished he could though.

“Shit. I’ve been so absorbed in my own stuff lately, I could have actually taken the time to ask if you were seeing anyone,” Sam says. “I’m sorry if I’ve been a bad friend, TC. You’ve been going through all this rehab, your dad’s dream has also gone up in smoke. I should have been around more.”

“Sam, please, don’t beat yourself up about. That’s not what I want. But can you help me and Eve out? She was evicted from her place in Boston and my folks don’t know we’ve been dating. I told them we just met tonight.”

Sam closes his eyes as though all this information is giving him a headache. So many convoluted stories. Sam has always prided himself on being honest. Then again, he’s been keeping a secret, even from TC and Ivy… So how can he judge his friend for this?

“Alright,” he says. “She can stay. But I’m telling Ivy everything. She’ll have to be in on this too.”

“Thank you,” TC says, pulling Sam in for a hug. “I owe you man. Big time. Eve means the world to me. She’s my life. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it.”

“I’m impressed you were able to keep this from me so long,” Sam says. “I can tell how much you love her. It’s all over your face. You’re fucking glowing, man.” And they both laugh at this, TC giving him a playful as if to say _Shut up!_

Outside the door Eve is wracked with guilt. Hearing TC talk about how much he loves her, while she’s just recently given birth to the son of his most hated enemy. Since her revelation at the Russell family’s house, it is all she can think of. July 1968. She had so compartmentalized this time in her life that the significance of this month and year hadn’t immediately occurred to her. Now she can’t stop, her mind is racing. It might not be too late. She might be able to get her son.

Suddenly the apartment door opens.

“Welcome home,” TC says with a grin.

TC tells her he’ll be back in the morning. Sam has given him a spare key. “Are you sure you’re feeling okay?” he asks. He remembers how dazed and concerned she had looked when she emerged from the bathroom back at his parents’ house. She’d insisted she was fine, but TC could tell that wasn’t true. His father loves Eve already. TC always wished they could have met; he’d been positive they would like each other. Now he was getting to see it actually come to pass. His mother, on the other hand, who had known and loved Eve until the day she died, she seemed a bit more distant. It was almost like she could tell there was something her son wasn’t telling them.

But for now, he can’t be bothered with worrying about that. He and Eve kiss goodnight, and then he’s gone.

“Can I… Um… Can I make you something to eat?” Sam asks, suddenly feeling awkward and realizing he’s mostly undressed in front of this stranger. He grabs a worn grey sweatshirt off the couch and tugs it on. “I wasn’t really expecting guests, my girlfriend is in Maine and won’t be back for a few days…”

He opens the fridge, revealing little more than a carton of eggs, some milk, and block of cheese that appears to be sprouting hair. A total bachelor pad. Eve smiles. She can’t get over how young Sam looks. He’s still got that chiseled jaw and those dazzling eyes, but to Eve he’s barely more than a kid.

“That’s okay, Sam,” she says. “If you could just point me in the direction of the spare bedroom, I’m just about ready to pass out.”

She unzips the boots and takes them off. “That feels a million times better. Can you get my back?”

Sam blushes at the request, but obliges, unzipping the back of her outfit.

“Where are your bags? Your clothes and stuff?”

Now Eve looks weary. “My landlord didn’t just kick me out. He threw away all my belongings, too.”

“I think my girlfriend has a pair of pajamas she keeps here,” he said, going to his bedroom to retrieve them. “Yes, here you go.” He comes back with a pair of pink pajamas. “You’re taller than Ivy, so I’m not sure how well these will fit, but…”

“I’m sure they’ll do just fine for tonight, thanks,” she says. She heads towards the spare bedroom.

“I might not be here tomorrow when you wake up,” Sam says. “I work first thing in the morning. I don’t know if TC told you, but I’m a cop.” And when he says this, the pride he feels is palpable.

“Yes, TC told me. You’re going to be the best police officer this town has ever known,” she says. “Good night, Sam.”

When Eve shuts the door, she sighs deeply. This has been the longest day of her life. Less than five hours ago she and TC were standing in the living with Liz. Liz. She had been prepared to tell TC everything. Expose Eve’s history with Julian and their recent re-connection during the search for their son.

But Liz’s efforts to destroy her were the last thing Eve could think about right now. Right now she needed to sleep. And that’s what she did the moment her head hit the pillow.

x

“Good morning,” a voice says. It’s vaguely familiar. Eve doesn’t want to open her eyes. She was having the strangest dream and part of her is afraid that if she opens her eyes it will turn out to be true. “Rise and shine,” the voice says, a little firmer this time. Eve knows it wasn’t a dream. She knows she’s going to have to face this fucked up new reality, but can’t she remain blissfully ignorant for just a few more minutes?

“Wakey wakey!”

Eve bolts upright in bed, gasping, as she’s doused with tall glass of ice cold water.

“What the hell?!” she demands angrily. A young blond woman is standing at the foot of the bed, a hand on her hip and a frown on her face.

“I couldn’t help but ask the same question.”

Ivy Winthrop. Eve can hardly believe it, but there she is. The former queen of Raven Hill, the woman who would go on to use her wealth and connections to hire a man to pose as Grace Bennett’s long lost husband. But looking at her now — like Sam last night — all Eve can think of is how young she looks. She’s probably younger than Simone!

“I…” Eve is tongue-tied. What was the story she and TC were going with? What had they discussed last night? “I’m…”

“Sleeping at my boyfriend’s apartment. And in my pajamas.” Now Ivy crosses her arms. She is seeing red but doing everything in her power to appear calm and in control. It’s a struggle. “Mind explaining yourself?”

“I only just met Sam last night,” Eve says. “I swear. I’m TC’s wife.”

“TC Russell is _married_??”

“I mean girlfriend. I’m his girlfriend.” Eve stands and extends a hand. She’s aware of how Ivy’s pink pajama top only reaches to around her bellybutton. “I’m Eve Johnson.”

Ivy looks as her suspiciously, then accepts her hand. “I’m Ivy Winthrop. So if you’re TC’s girlfriend, how come I haven’t heard about you before?”

“TC and I… We were keeping things quiet. We didn’t want his parents to know, so we kept it a secret. Geraldine and Reginald, they.. they want TC to focus on his recovery right now.”

Ivy still didn’t fully trust what this girl was telling her. TC and Sam were best friends. It’s hard to imagine them not talking about this, which would mean Sam kept it from her. That hurts. But on the other hand, when she and Sam first started seeing each other, Sam swore he hadn’t told a soul. Including TC. Ivy’s father _still_ doesn’t know about their relationship, so it’s not like hiding something this big is inconceivable…

“I guess that makes sense,” Ivy says, still wary. “Sorry about the water. I came by to surprise Sam, but he’s already gone to work. He wasn’t expecting me until the weekend. And I certainly wasn’t expecting _you_ …”

“He mentioned that last night,” Eve says. “I’m going to have a quick shower and freshen up. Is that okay?”

“Sure,” Ivy nods. “How about I put on a pot of coffee?”

Eve agrees, then hastens to the bathroom where she undresses and climbs into the shower. She wishes she could stay there under the hot flowing water forever, forget about this insanity. She runs her hands over her body in amazement. Eve had always kept healthy and fit her whole life, but there was no denying certain differences between the body of a 20-year-old and the body of a middle-aged mother of two.

‘Mother of _three_ ,’ a voice reminded her. The very thought of her son caused her adrenaline to start pumping anew.

She replayed the series of events. She had given birth to a healthy baby boy. He had needed to stay in the hospital’s neonatal ward for a few extra days, and Eve had come one night to check on him, just to be near him even if there was a window between them. He’d been one of twenty of so infants, all sleeping in their tiny beds, when a mysterious man crept into the ward. Eve watched horror-struck, powerless to stop him as he scooped up her son and sped out of the ward. Eve screamed and pounded on the glass. All the other babies started crying. She raced down the hall, trying to get to him, trying to reach the entrance to the room with the babies, but two nurses barred her path.

_“My baby! There’s a man who stole my baby! We have to stop him!”_

_“Whoa now, slow down, ma’am. What you’re saying is impossible, we’ve been here all night and you’re the only visitor.”_

_“Not a visitor! He went through a different door. And he’s getting away! Hurry!”_

_“She’s hysterical,”_ one nurse said to the other. _“Get on the phone and get one of the psychs down here. NOW.”_

_“I don’t need a psychiatrist! You need to call security!”_

The nurses had looked at each other with genuine alarm, however, it was this new mother’s sanity that concerned them. She was making no sense at all.

The rest of that night was a blur. She fought off the nurses, ran through the corridors in pursuit of the mysterious man. All the way she screamed for help, for someone to stop him, that her baby had been kidnapped. She never did find the man or where he had gone. She was tackled by a security guard and promptly sedated by a hospital psychiatrist. When Eve came to the next day, Julian sat at her bedside, a grave look on his face.

 _“Did they catch him, Julian?”_ she pleaded, tears immediately springing to her eyes. _“Did they get the man who took our baby?”_

 _“Oh Eve,”_ he said, pulling her to him and clutching her head against his chest. She felt his tears against her hair. She pushed back so she could face him. She had never seen Julian cry before. _“Our son wasn’t kidnapped. Our son died last night. When the nurses went to check on the babies, there he was. He’d died in his sleep.”_

He continued to speak, but his voice grew distant. Eve couldn’t believe what she was hearing. The doctors and nurses seemed to think Eve had imagined the whole thing, that she genuinely believed her son had been kidnapped and it was her mind’s way of coping with the trauma of seeing the baby motionless and dead in his bed. But she knew this wasn’t true. She knew her son had been taken.

However, after days and eventually weeks, Eve came to agree. She reluctantly decided it was a hallucination. She decided to accept what the professionals — what everyone — was telling her, including her lover. Only then did she receive a card of condolence from Julian’s father. The sight of that name on the card sent a chill down Eve’s spine. The racist who had so much loathing for her, who had disavowed his son’s relationship on the grounds that no Crane would ever marry a black woman, was now showing compassion. Something had felt so deeply wrong about that, but Eve — still wracked with grief and trauma — had not let her mind dwell on it.

Decades later, she would come to see the error in her ways. That if she had pushed Julian harder, forced him to truly see reason, they might have worked together to find their son before the trail got cold. Falling back through time like this, Eve thinks it’s like being given a second chance. A chance to—

“Knock, knock,” Ivy calls from the other side of the door. “Coffee’s going to get cold…”

Eve shuts off the shower and hastily dries off, tying her damp curls back in a bun. (She’d missed her naturally curly hair. It feels good.)

“Sorry about that,” she says, returning to the kitchen. “Guess I’m still waking up.”

Ivy pushes a mug towards her. Sam had taught her how to make coffee when she first started sleeping over. All her life she’d had servants to do that for her. It took some getting used to how … different things are for Sam here in Harmony. But her love and attraction to him helps her look past the “rustic” life he enjoys.

“Hey, don’t worry about it,” Ivy says. She’s impressed by Eve’s beauty. There’s something so cool and mature about her. While Ivy had initially felt threatened, now she likes the idea of having this girl as a friend. Ivy has so few genuine female friendships…

Eve sips at her coffee, her mind racing.

“So what time is TC coming over? When Sam gets off work the four of us could—”

“Ivy I need your help,” Eve says hastily.

Ivy seems surprised, but is also eager to cement some sort of bond with this new person.

“Absolutely, what can I do?”

“Do you have a car?”


	5. Chapter 5

“So how did you and TC meet?” Ivy asks. They’ve been driving for half an hour. Getting any information out of Eve is like pulling teeth. The other woman is just staring into space, watching the New England countryside fly by. The wind in her hair feels incredible but it’s not enough to take her mind of the son she knows is out there.

She and Julian — the she and Julian of the 21st century — had come to discover that it was his father, Alistair, who’d been involved in their son’s disappearance. The thought of having a black grandson repulsed Alistair. And her boy, her baby boy, would have been heir his business empire. No, Alistair wouldn’t be satisfied until his son was married to a lily white woman with a pedigree to match the Cranes. Eve turns to look at just the very woman who will wind up filling that role. Ivy is staring back at her, expectantly.

“ _Hello_ ,” Ivy says. “Did you even hear a word I said?”

“What? No. Sorry, my mind was elsewhere,” Eve says.

“Are you going to tell me anything about you and TC? Or why you have to get to Boston? And why you don’t want TC to know you’re up here?”

“Things are… complicated with me and TC,” she says. That’s an understatement. “I love him with my all heart. We have a future together. A bright, wonderful future with kids and a two-story house and friends like Sam and— Sam and you.”

Ivy smiles. She likes this picture Eve is painting.

“And our kids will be best friends,” Ivy says. “They’ll have sleepovers and go trick-or-treating together. And you and I will be on the PTA.”

Eve laughs. She knows Ivy. She knows this is not what the future Mrs. Julian Crane wants. Or at least it’s not what she will want in just a matter of months when she dumps Sam. But if imagining a fictional future is what it takes to keep Ivy from asking too many questions about the here-and-now, Eve is happy to play along.

“And we’ll bake sweets for school fundraisers,” Eve says. “You’ll be renowned in Harmony for your tomato soup cake.”

“Tomato soup cake?? Yuck, no way. That’s where I draw the line.” Both women laugh.

“How did you and Sam meet?” Eve asks.

Ivy smiles. “It was three summers ago. Sam was working as a life guard out at Dune Point…”

Soon Ivy is swept up in their fairy tale tryst, including the fact that they’ve had to keep much of their romance a secret from Ivy’s father, Governor Harrison Winthrop. Eve’s only half-listening. She knows most of these details already, and knows which ones Ivy is embellishing for effect. It occurs to Eve that young-Ivy isn’t so bad. She has some of Ivy-Ivy’s self-absorption, definitely her materialism (they are driving in a bright red Ford Mustang convertible), but there is an earnestness to her that Eve could have scarcely imagined based on the Ivy _she_ knew. Eve had often wondered how someone as moral and upstanding as Sam Bennett could have once been lovers with Poison Ivy. Now she is starting to see how that had been possible.

In what feels like no time, they arrive in Boston. The city looks so much different than when Eve, TC, and the girls recently came up to see a Red Sox game. Less sprawl, not so many tall buildings. Everything looks so.. well, so 1960s. The buildings and cars and obviously everyone’s clothes. Eve would have laughed out loud at the sight of a hippy couple walking barefoot down the sidewalk, daisy chains on their heads, if the issue at hand wasn’t so serious. If she can find her son, she can spare him the pain of growing up not knowing his parents. Not knowing he was loved from the very moment he came into this world.

Eve thinks about Chad Harris and feels an old familiar sickness in the pit of her stomach. She remembers Chad’s first couple years in Harmony, and the fear she had that he might be her son. While she and Julian have since ruled him out as a possibility, there had always been a lingering fear. Certain unanswered questions. At least one of them might be answered this afternoon…

“So where are we going?” Ivy asks.

They’re stopped at a light and two men crossing in front of them turn their heads back to look at them. One man winks and the other makes a gross kissing gesture with his lips and tongue. Creeps.

“I need to find a friend,” Eve says. “But I can’t quite remember the directions to her… workplace.”

“What does she do?”

“She’s a singer. She works at a club called the Blue Note.”

“Well this shouldn’t be hard,” Ivy says. She makes a hard left and pulls up down the block alongside the men who just passed them. “Excuse me fellas,” she says, twirling a lock of blond hair. “My friend and I are from out of town and can’t seem to find a place to go get a drink.”

“I know just the place I’d take you for a drink,” one of the man says obscenely. “Whaddaya say you both come back to my place? We could, heh, wet our whistles?”

Ivy appears unfazed, even as Eve recoils in disgust.

“Actually we’ve heard great things about a place called The Blue Note. Know how to get there?”

“Oh yeah,” the second man says, nodding vigorously. Something about the mention of that clubs seems to signal these girls really do want some action. “It’s on the other side of town, but won’t take us long to get there. It’s off Flannery, you just take a right onto Clarke and then go all the way to end. You can’t miss it.”

Both men are about to hop in the back of the car when Ivy steps on the gas and speeds away.

“Thanks boys!” she calls, laughing as she and Eve round a corner and are out of sight.

Eve was momentarily afraid of where things might go, but she’s laughing now in spite of herself. “Ivy, you’re crazy!”

Ivy winks at her, then imitates the kissy/tongue gesture from before. And again, both women are laughing.

Soon they arrive at the Blue Note. It’s in a rougher part of town for sure. Ivy thinks about the jewelry she’s wearing and quickly slips her rings off and stashes them in her purse. She gets out and follows Eve to the front door.

“No, no, no,” Eve says, raising a hand. “Ivy, you’ve been so amazing to take me here. I owe you big time. But I have to do this alone.”

“Do you honestly I’m going to leave you here, in this neighbourhood, and drive back to Harmony? No questions asked?”

“Yes.”

“Think again, sister,” Ivy says. “I’m coming in there with you, like it or not. It’s a free country and this place looks open for business. Well, sort of.” The Blue Note is certainly not the sort of establishment Ivy is used to. But there is something about this that also thrills her. She’d would love to see Daddy’s face if he knew where his precious daughter was right now.

Eve can tell Ivy is not going to drop this.

“Okay Ivy, I’m going to tell you what this is all about. But I need to know I can trust you. TC cannot find out about this.” Eve hopes that young-Ivy is more trustworthy than her future self. 

Ivy’s eyes widen. She doesn’t know TC all that well, but as Sam’s best friend she has always made a point of getting along with him. So they’re on good terms. Why should she risk that — risk causing a problem in her relationship with Sam, too — just because this stranger asks her to?

And yet she will.

A big part of the reason why is that Ivy is so lonely. At least when she’s not with Sam. Her parents sent her off to fancy boarding schools so they wouldn’t have to deal with her, and it seemed every girl she befriended was more interested in the Winthrop status than in Ivy as a person. She has long vowed to never, ever send her children to boarding schools.

“This can stay between you and me,” she says. “I won’t tell a soul. Not even Sam. And I mean that.”

Eve hesitates, but is there really anything she can do to stop this little blond spitfire?

“Ivy… There’s something TC doesn’t know about me.” Eve takes a deep breath. “The apartment fire I told you about, that was a lie. But the bigger secret is: I’ve had a child with another man."

Ivy can’t believe her ears. “I… Wow, Eve… I had a feeling you were going to tell me about an affair, but I wasn’t expecting a secret child.”

“It’s more than that. My child has been kidnapped. I watched as someone took him from the hospital, but before I could catch up with the man, I was given a heavy sedative. When I woke up, everyone told me my child had died. They even showed me the body, but it wasn’t him. I know a lot of babies look alike but I knew. A mother can always tell the difference, and I know that wasn’t him.” Eve draws in a shuddery breath and Ivy puts a hand on her arm.

There are tears in Ivy’s eyes. ‘This woman is not lying,’ she thinks.

“I need to talk to the baby’s father. I need to talk to him now and convince him we’ve been tricked.”

“Who could do such a thing? Why would someone do something so evil?”

Eve thinks: ‘Because Alistair Crane is the most evil man since Hitler…’

Instead, she says: “I don’t expect you to believe me. I just need you to swear you won’t tell TC. The news would devastate him. It would destroy us, and we have a whole life still to live together.” (‘A life _to get back to_ ,’ she thinks.)

“You can count on me,” Ivy says wiping the tears from her eyes. “Now let’s go find your friend.”

They enter the Blue Note and memories come flooding back for Eve. It’s all here. So many nights spent singing on that stage. The art on the walls, the upholstery on the booths. Even Vinny the bartender is behind the counter, cleaning glasses. Eve can’t believe it.

“Vinny!” she says, rushing to him, going behind the counter to hug him. She hasn’t seen him in over 30 years. Of course, for Vinny, it’s been more like three days. He looks perplexed but hugs her back.

“Eve, how are you holding up,” he says, his hands on her shoulders. “I heard about the baby. I’m so, so sorry. Julian’s been in here looking for you. He said you disappeared last night. Said he went to get you a glass of water and when he came back you were gone.”

This confirmed what she’d been thinking about since they first arrived in 1968: there was no second Eve and TC in this universe. When they fell back through time, their 1960s selves had ceased to exist.

“I… I’m sorry if I worried anyone,” she says nervously. “I’m looking for him. I was hoping that Crystal might be here. She could help me find Julian.”

“You’re in luck,” Vinny says. He finishes pouring a drink for one of his customers. Although it’s only mid-afternoon, the dim, windowless lounge has plenty of thirsty patrons. “Crystal’s in the dressing room. She’s supposed to perform tonight but was really stressed out about what happened to you. If you can reassure her, that would make the boss’ life — and mine by extension — a lot easier.”

Eve kisses him on the cheek.

“I can’t make any promises,” she says, and then walks back out from behind the bar. “Ivy, I need you to wait here.”

“What? No, Eve, you can trust me to come.”

“I do trust you. But Crystal is my best friend, and some of what we have to talk about it just between the two of us. Please understand.”

Ivy nods, crestfallen but she gets it.

“Vinny,” Eve says, “how about something on the house for my friend?”

He smiles. “Any friend of Eve’s is a friend of mine.”

This makes Ivy feel good. She smiles too as Vinny fixes her a bellini.

Eve heads straight for the stage door. One of the men she passes whistles at her, but she ignores him. Everything about the Blue Note is like déjà vu. It had all been so far in the past for her that there were days it just seemed like a dream. Like some one else’s life. There were details of that life she couldn’t recall, specific things like how to get to her old apartment or what street the Blue Note was on. And then other details were apparently deeply embedded in her memory, deeper than she could have imagined. The man who’d whistled at her, for example: he was a barfly named Donnie who’s wife left him three years ago, and consequently he spends his days and nights at the club, ogling the singers and dancers. Similarly, Eve remembers exactly how to reach the dressing room backstage.

“Crystal?” she says, tapping on the door as she opens it.

“Eve!” her friend leaps up from where she’s sitting by the mirror. “Are you okay??”

Eve is speechless. It’s like seeing a ghost. The last time she saw Crystal Harris was three years ago. Crytal was dead. Shot at the Harmony wharf when she was mistaken for Sheridan Crane. Her eyes well up with tears as she goes to her old friend, touching her arm as if to see she’s real.

“Where did you go last night? Julian has been worried sick about you. He’s searching everywhere.”

Crystal had been in Harmony to sing at the Harmony Jazz Club, which would go on to be re-opened as The Blue Note. Eve had urged Crystal to leave town, terrified that she would reveal something about their connection and expose her sorted past. Crystal’s death had been heartbreaking but also very, very convenient. So much so that Eve still irrationally blames herself.

“Eve? C’mon, Eve, speak to me.” The blond woman guides her friend to a nearby chaise lounge and they sit down together. “What happened to make you run away last night? Julian thinks that you’ve had a total breakdown. He was scared you might have… harmed yourself.”

Finally Eve musters the strength to shake her head.

“No, Crystal, I’m okay. I mean, as okay as one can be at a time like this.”

Chad Harris had suspected that Crystal knew something about his past, about his parents. She seemed to think so too. She told him that when her friend’s son was put up for adoption, the child was given her last name. But Eve’s son had — so far as Crystal knew — died as an infant, so Eve couldn’t have been the friend who asked Crystal for her name.

“You should feel whatever you need to feel right now,” Crystal says, stroking Eve’s arm. “But please, don’t run out into the night like that ever again. Keep us informed of where you’re going, what you’re doing. I can come and stay with you at your apartment when Julian’s not there.”

Having lived so many years since that traumatic summer of ’68, having first managed to process the “death” and then to move on and start a whole new life as a successful physician, and _then_ to confirm her son had never died and was still out there somewhere… It all means that Eve is not acting like the mother of a recently deceased baby.

“Crystal, I need to know something. What does the name Chad Harris mean to you?”

Crystal looks surprised. She was not expecting that to be the next thing out of Eve’s mouth.

“That’s my father’s name.”

“But is there anyone else?”

“I.. My friend, Sophie. Do you remember Sophie? She came to listen to me sing once. She just recently had a baby and asked if she could use ‘Harris’. She asked me to name the baby and so I named him after my father. But how did you know anything about that? I literally haven’t told a soul. Sophie put the baby up for adoption just two months ago.”

Eve looks upwards, shaking her head. So that’s what it was.

“Is Sophie black? Or is she white, with a black boyfriend?”

“Sophie’s white but her ex is black. That’s one of the reasons she gave her son up. Her family did _not_ approve of her relationship. Racist fucks…” Crystal clenches a fist in rage. “This is 1968, people! Not 1868…”

Sophie’s identity is the secret Crystal almost revealed to Chad.

“Her family is sort of like Julian’s,” Crystal says. “The situation is very similar to yours, except I know that you and Julian would never give up your baby. Or, at least you wouldn’t have…” She holds Eve’s hand.

All Eve can think about is Crystal’s corpse on the wharf. How Eve had been responsible for the medical autopsy. She destroyed some of Crystal’s papers and planted drugs on Crystal’s body, which sent Sam chasing down a rabbit hole related to the drug cartel that had been pursuing Sheridan at the time. Eve had stopped at nothing to ensure that no possible links were found between her and the beautiful dead lounge-singer.

Crystal had no next of kin and so was buried in Potter’s Field, with nothing but a small plastic stick to mark her grave. Now Eve starts to cry. She had never truly mourned her friend. Crystal assumes Eve is crying about her son, and she hugs her close, stroking her back and head.

Meanwhile, Ivy has taken a seat in one of the booths and is on her second bellini as she eyes the backstage door. What could be taking Eve so long?

“There you are,” a voice says. Ivy turns in time to see one of the men from before slide into the booth, trapping her. “Took us a bit longer to get here on foot, but we wouldn’t dream of missing out on a drink or three with someone as pretty as you.”

Dread washes over Ivy. The man is grinning maliciously.

“Where’s your friend?” he asks.

“She’s, um, in the little girls room,” Ivy says, her eyes darting around frantically. She wants to catch Vinny’s attention, try to signal that she’s in trouble, but he’s distracted at the bar. “Why don’t I go get her?”

“She’ll be out eventually,” says the other man, sitting down across from her. “And if not, Mike and I don’t mind… sharing.”

Ivy feels sick to her stomach. Suddenly ‘Mike’ grabs her by the wrist. “Move an inch and I’ll snap your arm like a twig,” he says in a low voice. “I could tell you wanted us when you stopped your car. You might think you don’t, but trust me, I can always tell what a woman really wants. Even when they race off and leave me standing in the street like an idiot, I always know what they’re really looking for.”

And suddenly, Ivy knows the danger all too familiar to so many women: the danger of a man’s pride.

“You’re going to come with us,” he says, pulling her to her feet. She starts towards the door — which will mean passing close to the bar; she’s positive she can signal Vinny — but Mike pulls her in the opposite direction. “We’ll go out the back door. And then we’ll go for a little ride in that nice shiny car of yours. How does that sound?”

“Yeah, that sound good to you?” says the other man, who Ivy is thinking of as Mike’s lap dog.

Neither man realizes the rear exit is just past the backstage door. Ivy prepares herself, the adrenaline really pumping now. Mike is twice her size so she’s only going to get one shot at this. Just as they are passing the backstage door, Ivy lets out a short, convincing gasp as though she’s seen something startling. Mike drops his guard for just a fraction of a second and she yanks free, dashing backstage.

“Eve!” she screams, running down a narrow corridor. One of the doors opens and a tear-stained Eve looks out at her.

“Ivy?”

Ivy shoves Eve back into the dressing room and slams the door behind her. She locks it but knows that won’t do much.

“What’s happening??”

“Our friends from the street, who so kindly gave us directions.”

Eve’s eyes widen with fear just as the men start pounding on the door. They’re banging against it so hard it’s rattling on its hinges.

“Shit,” Eve says. “Shit shit shit, we’re trapped. And I need to find Julian.”

Crystal strides to the dressing room mirror and retrieves a bottle of pepper spray from one of the drawers.

“Don’t you remember, Eve? This was your idea,” she says, holding it up. Eve had forgotten. She’d suggested they have something in there to protect themselves, given the rough clientele that frequented the Blue Note. “You two stand back. That door’s going to give way any minute, and as soon as it does, I’ll mace them.”

Ivy was impressed by this woman’s take-charge demeanor.

“It will give you two enough time to get out of here, and me enough time to get to Vinny.”

“Thank you, Crystal,” says Eve.

“It’s nothing.”

They can hear the sound of the door beginning to splinter.

“Wait, Crystal, one more thing: Where can I find Julian?”

“He’s been driving around Boston all night and all day searching for you. My guess is he’s probably back at your apartment, resting and hoping you come back there.”

The women all take a step back as the door appears closer to bursting.

“And where _is_ my apartment?”

Crystal looks at her, confused, but answers with a street address. She raises the tiny mace bottle, ready to hit their assailants. In less then ten seconds, it all happens. The door breaks away from the frame and falls flat on the floor, the men stumble forward and get two facefuls of pepper spray, and then Ivy and Eve are racing out of the dressing room and then a side exit into the late afternoon sun. It takes their eyes a minute to adjust. Ivy spots her car. They clamor in and Ivy guns the engine. “Let’s go,” she says, squeezing Eve’s hand. She’s never been so exhilarated.

They speed away from the Blue Note, the wind whipping through their hair. Eve says, laughing, “We’re just like Thelma and Louise!”

Ivy doesn’t get the reference. The film won’t be released for another 23 years…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've decided that Chad is not the product of Alistair raping Liz. That event did not happen in this story.


	6. Chapter 6

The morning after Eve Johnson’s arrival at the Russell house, Geraldine lets her son sleep in. Although it’s been close to a year since his accident, she still worries about him putting too much strain on his body too soon. He was nearly killed when Julian Crane ran him over. Geraldine will never forget what he looked like in Harmony Hospital, so mangled she could hardly recognize him. She would have strangled Julian herself if she ever laid eyes on him, except the Crane brat hadn’t been seen around town since. Ben had done everything in his power as chief of police to prove Julian was responsible, but it was no use; as usual, another rich white kid managed to escape justice.

It’s almost noon before TC wakes up. He sees the time on his clock and almost leaps out of bed. Or at least he would have leapt out of bed if not for the stiffness of his leg.

“Where am I?” he says, looking around. It’s his childhood bedroom. He throws off the blankets and stares in momentary disbelief as the slim/toned body he’s inhabiting, so different from the stocky build of his adulthood. For a minute, it’s as though his later lifetime in Harmony had been nothing but a dream.

But he knows this isn’t true.

He dresses and goes downstairs, thinking about Eve and hoping she hasn’t been up for hours, waiting for him and worrying.

“Morning, sunshine,” says Geraldine from the kitchen.

“More like afternoon,” Reggie adds gruffly. He’s at the table, one of Geraldine’s mouth-watering sandwiches in front of him.

TC smiles at the sight of them. Any urgency about rushing to Sam’s to see Eve has evaporated.

“What’s eating _you_ , pops?” he says in a teasing tone. He reaches across the table to snatch half of that sandwich but his father pulls the plate away and gives him a dark stare.

“You hush,” Geraldine says. “I’ve got a sandwich for you too. I could hear you stirring up there”

TC had forgotten what his father was like after the accident. How his moods could fluctuate so easily. Last night he had been in his element, teasing Eve and TC, being almost flirtatious and telling Geraldine to lighten up. Today, however, he appears to be in a surly mood. His bad days will eventually outnumber the good ones, TC knows. He will fall deeper and deeper in to depression over time, eventually dying far sooner than a man his age should.

The thought fills TC with emotion and for a second he loses his appetite for the sandwich his mother has slid in front of him.

‘It doesn’t have to be that way,’ he tells himself. ‘Maybe this is a second chance. A chance to set things on a better path for my father.’

“So, do you think you’ll see your new friend again?” Geraldine asks. She’s not being coy, but she also doesn’t believe Eve and TC just happened to stumble upon each other last night. She said as much to Reginald before they went to sleep, but he brushed it off.

 _“So what,”_ he said. _“You and I were seeing each other in secret for a few months before our parents found out.”_ And she couldn’t deny it. How quickly they’d grown up. And now their only son has grown, too. When she looks at TC now, side by side at the table with his father, she marvels at the handsome man he’s become. There is something different about him today. She can’t put her finger on what though. After all the time he’s spent feeling sorry for himself this past year since the accident, today the whole ordeal seems like a distant memory to him.

She gets up before TC can answer and busies herself at the coffee-maker, almost overwhelmed by the strangest urge to cry. Neither her son nor her husband notices, which is just the way she wants it.

“Yes, I’ll go over to Sam’s later on and see if Eve and Ivy are there,” he says.

“It’s the last day of Wimbledon,” says Reginald. “I thought we planned to watch Billie Jean King take on that Aussie broad?”

“ _Woman_ ,” Geraldine corrects from across the room.

TC smiles. It’s like they haven’t changed a day. ‘That’s because they haven’t,’ he reminds himself. ‘I’m sure Eve will be fine to take care of herself for the afternoon. After all, we might just fall back to 2003 as quickly as we landed here. If that’s the case, I want to enjoy this extra bit of time with mom and dad.’

Which is precisely what TC does. He spends the afternoon in the den with his father, turning around Reginald’s mood 180 degrees. By suppertime, they’re laughing and reminiscing about TC’s earliest days on the court. He’s gotten so lost in this reunion with his parents, he actually forgets about Eve. It’s only when his mother is clearing off the table after supper and asks what his plans are for the evening that TC remembers.

“Shit,” he says, bolting to his feet, which causes a massive pain to shoot up through his bad leg.

“Watch that mouth,” Reggie says.

“Sorry. I forgot that I’m supposed to hang with Sam tonight. Eve and Ivy will, uh, probably be with us. Dad can I take the car?”

Soon TC is speeding across town to Sam’s apartment. Eve is probably livid. They’ve been here, in this timeline, for less than 24 hours and he’s already abandoned her. When he arrives, his first instinct is to take the stairs two at a time, but he’s thinking like his future self, who’s had thirty-plus to recover the strength in his leg and hip. He winces, then clutches the banister as he ascends.

Without a thought of knocking, he slides the spare key into the lock and enters. He hears voices in the kitchen and enters, expecting to find Eve and Sam. He hopes she isn’t mad at him. He loves the thought of those two “meeting” for the first time, at such a different point in their lives than when they met originally.

Except it’s not Eve. Sam is there with another man who’s around their age.

“Oh! Sorry to interrupt,” he says. “I thought Eve was here.”

“That’s okay,” Sam says. “Noah was just leaving.”

If TC’s mind wasn’t so preoccupied with Eve, he might have noticed that the two men were clearly in the middle of some sort of argument.

“I’m TC,” he says, extending a hand.

“I’m Noah,” says the other man shaking it. “I’m a friend of Sam’s from the police academy.”

“Oh cool! Y’know you’re actually the first of Sam’s academy buddies I’ve ever met.”

Sam grabs the Noah’s jacket off the back of a chair and shoves it into his hands. “And hopefully the last,” Sam says.

TC laughs, assuming it’s a joke. Noah says nothing, just takes his coat and leaves.

“Sorry I’m so late coming over,” TC says. “I got to watching the women’s finals this afternoon with my dad.”

Sam opens the fridge and tosses TC a beer. Sam’s nerves are rattled and he hopes a little alcohol will calm them. “That’s Reg,” Sam says. “No surprise there. Where’s Eve?”

“What do you mean, isn’t she here?” TC had assumed she was in the washroom or in the second bedroom.

Sam looks confused.

“I thought she was with you? She wasn’t here when I got home from work.”

Now TC’s eyes widen and he almost drops the cold bottle of beer.

“I…” He has a sick feeling in his stomach. “I lost track of time. I didn’t come over until now. It was stupid of me.”

“Well, does she have any friends in Harmony? Maybe she’s out with them?”

‘Give her twenty years, she’ll have plenty of friends here. Now though, not a one…’ TC thinks.

“Sam, we have to find her.”

Sam nods. “We’ll take my car. I’m obviously off-duty, but you never know when being behind the wheel of a cop car might come in handy.”

They hurry down to the vehicle as quickly as TC can manage. Sam insists there’s nothing to worry about, they’ll find Eve. TC agrees, but is doing a poor job of hiding his anxiety. He can’t stop thinking, ‘What if the same strange magic that brought us here has taken Eve back to 2003? What if I’m trapped here all alone?’


	7. Chapter 7

When Eve and Ivy arrive at Eve’s apartment, she’s embarrassed to realize she doesn’t have a key. It turns out that doesn’t matter though. She tries the knob and discovers it’s unlocked. They enter, and Eve gets the same déjà vu she had walking into the Blue Note. This is her shabby little one bedroom apartment. The cracked kitchen countertops, the cupboards that don’t quite shut all the way, and her fridge from the 1950s.

“Julian?” she calls out, moving from the kitchen into the living room.

Ivy is following close behind. Ivy can’t believe she’s here, in Boston, in a sketchy part of town, at the apartment of some stranger whose baby — she claims — was kidnapped. ‘Have I lost my mind?’ she asks herself, but knows in her heart she’s safe with Eve. Despite this certainty, she can’t help but feel anxious about meeting Eve’s baby-daddy. Any man who regularly frequents a dive like the Blue Note has got to be more than a little rough around the edges.

This is why Ivy is triply shocked when Eve flips on the living room light and there, sprawled on the sofa, is none other than Julian Crane! Ivy’s eyes widen and her jaw slackens. She met Julian Crane several years ago, at a huge gala her parents hosted. Alistair Crane — who had business dealings with her father — was in attendance, and he’d brought his son along too. Julian Crane was so handsome, so dashing, all the girls had wanted to dance with him that night, despite his reputation of being “all hands” on the dance floor. She remembers wanting to catch his eye so badly that night but he’d been lost in a sea of other rich young women and Ivy had faded into the background.

Now here he is, in Eve’s seedy little Boston apartment. _Father of her child_. The revelation still hasn’t fully hit home for Ivy. If the gossip columnists find out that Julian Crane has sired a bastard baby — _with a black woman_ — Alistair Crane will be a laughing stock at Martha’s Vineyard. Ivy feels a chill as she recalls something her father once told her: _“_ Never _cross a Crane. They’re ruthless. They’re the people you want on your side, not the other way around.”_

“Julian!” Eve knelt beside him. Nothing could have prepared her for this moment. Her heart was pounding. Here was the first love she’d ever known. What’s more, he looked the exact same as he had when they first met. All those early memories of their times together — this was the face she recalled. No wrinkles, no touch of grey hair at the temples. For a moment, Eve’s future in Harmony ceased to exist and all she knew was her life right here and now in 1968 with Julian and their friends like Crystal and Vinny. The parties and concerts and the laughter and fun.

He had given her the tender moments she’d never known from a man — her stepfather had brutalized her to the point where she fled the south as a teen, swearing she’d never let another man touch her. However, Eve had to make a living, and so she’d turned to prostitution. She detached from her body during those encounters, they were purely transactional. But Julian Crane, so suave and so — for the first time in _his_ life — in love that he charmed her, went at her pace, never rushed her or pressured her into sex. He was the first man to hold her hand at the end of a party, to still be listening and asking her questions and wanting her opinion, her thoughts, rather than just a chance to get up her skirt.

Eve hadn’t known anything about the “Crane Empire” when Julian first approached her after a show at the Blue Note, like so many other men did each night. It was only much later in their courtship that she learned who his family was and the immense wealth behind him. None of that mattered to her. She loved _him_. She felt safe with him and knew he didn’t judge her for the choices she made.

“Julian, wake up, I’m here,” she says, shaking him gently.

His eyes fly open and he’s instantly alert. “Eve!” He sits up and hugs her. “Darling, you had me so worried.”

They kiss. Eve isn’t even thinking of TC when she does this. It just feels like the right thing to do.

“Where were you? I was searching all over,” he says, clutching her arms as if he’s afraid she might disappear again. “One minute you were here and when I came back into the room, you were gone!”

“Julian, I’m so sorry to have frightened you,” she says. And now suddenly she remembers Ivy for the first time. Eve straightens her skirt and turns to Ivy. “Julian, this is my friend, Ivy Winthrop.”

“Nice to meet you,” Ivy says, blushing in spite of herself.

“Winthrop… As in, Harrison Winthrop? The Governor?”

“The one and only.”

Julian is clearly confused by Ivy’s presence with Eve.

“She’s a _new_ friend,” Eve says, reading his mind. “Ivy, I need a moment alone with Julian. Can I get you a drink or anything? I think I’ve got some Coke in the fridge.”

Ivy raises a hand to stop Eve from getting it. “I can help myself,” Ivy says. “You guys talk. I’ll be here.”

Eve thanks her. Ivy goes into the kitchen, and Eve takes Julian — still looking very confused — by the hand and into her bedroom. They sit down on the edge of her bed, and Julian once again holds her close. “I was so afraid something happened to you,” he says. “That you had run away or been in some kind of terrible accident. My son is dead; if you died too, I don’t know what I would do.”

“Our son isn’t dead,” Eve says. She looks him square in the eye, her voice unwavering.

Something in her tone is different to Julian. She had been saying this before, going on about a man taking their baby. She’d been hysterical for days and all the psychiatrists agreed she was having delusions. But now there was something different about Eve. Like she had aged years and years in the last 24 hours.

“Eve, we’ve been over this…”

“Julian, time is of the essence. How many days has it been since our son ‘died’? A week, tops.”

“Um, yes,” he says. It’s been such an emotional rollercoaster, he’s had a hard time keeping track. “But Eve —”

“I need you to listen to me Julian. Not just listen, I need you to _believe_ me. I need you trust me.”

Julian feels a lump in his throat.

“Our son is still alive. And I am going to find him. Can I count on your help, or am I wasting my time?”

“I…”

“If it’s the latter, just be honest. I love you, Julian Crane” — she said this without even thinking — “but I am not let anyone or anything get in my way. Even you. Now if you think I’m crazy, if you think this just psycho-babble from somebody suffering from post-partem depression, then I’ll continue this fight on my own. But I’m not giving up this time.”

“Eve, I don’t understand what you’re talking about. ‘This time’? What does that even mean? And of course I don’t think you’re crazy. I just worry that all the shock from this death has—”

“Our son is not dead!” And now she almost wants to slap him. Not out of anger but desperation, frustration. She’s been given this impossible opportunity, to fix her mistake when it comes to her lost son, and she is not going to give up this time.

“Eve,” Julian begins. He wants to cry, watching her in such a state. It kills him. But none of this changes the fact that—

“Orville Perkins,” she says.

The name is the last thing Julian expects to hear.

“How do you know Orville Perkins?” he asks.

Silence fills the room. Eve stares at him calmly. ‘That got his attention,’ she thinks.

“Eve, answer me, how do you know Orville Perkins?”

“I know this much about him: He knows what happened to our son. He knows about _us_.” Eve thinks back to that night in 2001 when she lit the fire that burned down Perkins’ house. He’d been an old man by then, but his memory was still good enough to know about Eve and Julian’s past. And the possibility that Chad was their son. At the time, Eve had been more concerned with preserving her perfect life, maintaining her secret, than she had been with knowing the truth about Chad or the real identity of her son with Julian. She had been stupid, nearly killing an old man so that all his files would be destroyed. Perkins lived out his final days in a nursing home. Eve had secretly kept tabs through the hospital records system, breathing a sigh of relief in late 2001 when he finally passed away.

“Perkins…” Julian thinks this over.

“Who is he?” Eve asks, putting a hand on Julian’s knee. Their connection is almost electric, and pulls her hand away to avoid becoming pulled into something she might not be able to return from.

“He works for my father. Sort of a … a problem-solver, if you know what I mean… But how could you have known about him?”

Eve brushes the question aside for now. Instead she gets straight to the heart of the matter: “Julian, your father is the one behind this. Alistair Crane got rid of our son because there is no way he’s going to let a black boy become heir to his empire.”

Julian is dumbstruck. His father is a vile, racist man, it’s true. His father refused to accept him and Eve as a couple. But to “get rid of” his own grandson? To murder a helpless infant? Julian had met Orville Perkins on multiple occasions, and although he knew the man was responsible for some horrifying, reprehensible acts in the name of Alistair Crane, Julian also knew he was not capable of murdering a baby.

He says as much to Eve.

“That’s just it though,” says Eve. “I think he may have found a way to replace our son with a recently deceased baby.”

Julian wants to say ‘this is your craziest theory yet!’ except there’s this difference about Eve. It persists. Until now, she’d been beside herself with grief. She’d been crying day and night, not sleeping, not eating. She’d been a mess and had been spouting all sorts of wild ideas about what had happened to their son, including the mysterious man she saw carrying him from the room at the maternity ward.

But there’s something different about Eve. She’s calm, collected, decisive. Everything about her exudes confidence. Not just confidence. Certainty. She isn’t messing around, she means what she’s saying about Alistair… And shouldn’t Julian of all people know what his father is capable of? He thinks back to a different sudden death in his family. It hadn’t been that long ago. The death of his mother, Katherine.

He was thirteen years old. He remembered how tense the household had been in the lead-up to her death. How strange she had been behaving and the loud arguments he overheard between her and Alistair. _“I’ll always love you,”_ she told him one night before bed. _“Don’t ever forget how much I love you and your sister. I’d do anything for you, I swear.”_ There had been something so final about those words.

And then the next day he learned of her death. She had been sick with cancer all that time and never said a word to him or Sheridan. Suffered in silence for months.

Except what if she hadn’t?

Julian feels a mix of grief and rage bubbling inside him. What if her death hadn’t been cancer? Hadn’t been natural at all?

Julian shuts his eyes to keep the room from spinning. He feels Eve’s hand on his back.

“I know it’s a lot to take in, but your father is capable of this,” she says. “God, if you only knew how much worse he will be over time. But what’s most important is that you believe me when I tell you: Alistair Crane is the one who’s behind this. He and his hired men — including Orville Perkins — were responsible for the kidnapping of our son. Not the death, the _kidnapping_. Which means if we act now, we can find him. Before the trail runs cold.”

“I…” He looks at her and the love she evokes is enough to quell the fury inside him, to stop him from exploding. “I trust you Eve. I don’t know where you got this information, but it doesn’t matter. I think you’re right about this.”

Now they hug. Eve can’t help herself. He’s on her side, he’s not going to fight her. They kiss now. Her heart is racing and she wants nothing more than to push him back onto the bed and make love to him. To be reunited with her first love like this — to revisit the same skin, the same muscles, the same hair and smell and taste. She _is_ young Eve in this moment. Any thought of TC or her daughters or her patients or her friends in Harmony or even Ivy waiting in the other room, once again they’re all gone for just an instant and she’s alone with Julian.

But she pulls herself back before she can be swept any further away.

“We need to focus,” she says. “I need to go soon.”

“Go? Go where? You’re home!”

“Not anymore,” Eve shakes her head. “If we are going to do this, we can’t have Alistair suspecting a thing. And that means we can’t be together. He needs to be convinced we’re no longer an ‘issue’ for him to worry about.”

“No,” Julian refuses. “Absolutely not. I refuse to sacrifice the woman I love, all to placate him and his racist worldview.”

“You wouldn’t be losing me,” Eve says.

And here she has to force herself to remember the Julian Crane he became after their split. How Julian went on to marry Ivy, how he became his father’s righthand man and committed countless crimes. He even went so far as to hire hitmen to kill his sister, Sheridan! Julian was a cold-hearted, money-grubbing, philandering Crane. He had caused untold pain and suffering in Harmony for decades. A past like that couldn’t be forgiven overnight.

Except… Except the man sitting beside her _hadn’t_ done any of those things. Not yet. Maybe he never would. How could Eve judge young-Julian for crimes he’d never committed? How was that fair?

But she did her best to shield herself from this rational part of her brain. It was the only way she could go through with the following lie.

“You and I will still be together, but we’re going to have to create new lives for ourselves. For the short-term. You need to find a new girlfriend. I need to find a new boyfriend. We can’t risk Alistair suspecting a thing. I’m going with Ivy to Harmony tonight. I’ll stay with a friend of hers there. I need to get out of Boston. This city… with its memories of our son… I can’t stay here, it will kill me.”

Julian extends a hand so that he’s holding the side of her face. She looks like she might start to cry, but she blinks back the tears and remains firm in her resolve.

“Once we’ve successfully shown Alistair we have started over, then you to do some digging. Find out what you can about Perkins and any clues as to what he did with our son. If you can build Alistair’s trust in a short amount of time, it will make things that much easier for you.”

He nods slowly, taking everything in. Pretend to be with someone else? How could ever be with anyone other than Eve? And furthermore, how could he be so cruel to some woman, pretending to be interested in her? Although there is one young woman so shallow and materialistic he wouldn’t lose much sleep about leading her on…

“Okay,” he says finally with a nod. “Okay let’s do this. It won’t be easy to be away from you — or cozying up to that reptile I call father — but if it means getting our son back, it will be worth it.”

They kiss. They kiss for what feels like an eternity. Julian is pressing his body against hers, and she can feel him, erect, through his pants. She wants nothing more than to lay back in the sheets and experience one last time together…

She resists. “I have to go, Julian. I need to back a bag and be gone with Ivy. I’ve kept her waiting long enough already.” (‘Not to mention TC…’)

He agrees. He wants to ravish her right then and there, to let their passions consume them. But he holds back.

“How will I know how to contact you?” he asks, as Eve hastily takes clothes from a dresser and throws them into two large suitcases.

She thinks about this for a minute.

“The Harmony fall fair. Let’s meet there! Everyone goes each year, so it won’t be suspicious if we’re both there. I’m sure we can find some way to slip away and speak privately.”

Julian nods. That’s three months away, which sounds like an eternity. But that’s also enough time for him to start sleuthing. And manipulating his father.

“Alright,” he says, his heart pained by the sound of Eve snapping shut the locks on her suitcases. “Until then, my love.”

They share one final kiss.


	8. Chapter 8

The ride home is mostly quiet. Ivy can tell something changed for Eve when she left her bedroom carrying her suitcases. Ivy had hoped Julian would come out so she could see him one last time before they departed, but he never emerged from the other room.

“We’re finished, Julian and I,” Eve said before Ivy had a chance to ask. “We’re over.”

“Oh. I’m sorry. Are you okay?”

“I will be.”

When they get back to Harmony and Sam’s apartment, he and TC aren’t home. Ivy agrees to wait until the boys return. She’ll be Eve’s excuse for leaving the apartment all day. Ivy helps Eve unpack her clothes, complimenting her on her style. She says they’ll have to go shopping sometime. Eve smiles at the good faith effort Ivy’s making to turn her mood around.

When Sam and TC do return, TC rushes to Eve and sweeps her up his arms. “I was so worried,” he says over and over again.

Eve apologizes. Ivy says it was her idea to take Eve to Boston to pick up her clothes. They ended up taking longer than expected. Sam is surprised to see Ivy, and that she and Eve became such fast friends. Both Eve and TC are apologizing for worrying the other. Ivy is impressed and even a little jealous that Eve has another handsome man who’s so deeply in love with her. Ivy always thought TC was hot, although as Sam’s best friend she hadn’t been _attracted_ to him in the way she might have if he’d had no connect to her lover.

By the end of the night, with Eve safely back in her room at Sam’s apartment, all is well again. At least as much as it could be, given the strange situation Eve and TC find themselves.

Sam agrees, with Ivy’s permission, to let Eve stay on as a roommate until such time as she and TC can get their own place. TC knows his parents won’t approve of them rushing to move in together, so he wants to take it slowly. And that is what they do.

TC gets a job coaching kids tennis over the summer. Eve starts working as a volunteer at a health clinic across town. Ivy talks about getting a job, but everyone knows that isn’t going to happen. (It doesn’t.) Ivy spends her summer days out at Lighthouse Point, where she and Sam first met. He tries to come by on his lunch breaks to share a sandwich with her before heading back to town in his squad car. The four friends spend most evenings together, whether at the beach or the movies or just playing cards and drinking beer in Sam’s muggy apartment. Some nights TC sleeps over, he and Eve making love softly on the small bed in Eve’s room. Facing TC, Eve still can’t get over how young he looks. He doesn’t have the goatee that became a signature part of his appearance as an adult. He’s clean shaven, not an ounce of fat on his body. Eve feels safe in his arms after sex.

In so many ways, it’s like their past lives never actually happened. There are days Eve completely forgets that their convivial group is really just a young version of a different foursome: Eve, TC, Sam, and Grace. Eve has made significant inroads with Geraldine, whose initial suspicions about her have vanished. And of course, there’s Reggie, who liked Eve from day one. Having his son and his (would-be) daughter-in-law around has helped him shake free of the depression and anger that hobbled him and sent him to an early grave. He’s working again, helping out in the community like he used to, even coming to give the occasional pep talk to TC’s young tennis players over at the courts. Eve’s medical knowledge means TC has more support and guidance than ever before in terms of his injury; he is recovering much faster than he did originally.

Of course, TC has less on his mind than Eve. Less to forget. Yes, there are Whitney and Simone, the thought of whom pains him and fills him a deep paternal longing and sadness. But otherwise, few aspects of his life in the other timeline really matter to him. Here he has his mother and father back, he has Eve, he has Sam and so many other local connections. This really has been a kind of miracle, a second chance. He never says this to Eve though. He doesn’t want her to think he’s given up on some day getting back to their old life.

There are times when Eve feels a similar desire to abandon all thought of their ‘before’ in Harmony and focus on stating over. But then the faces of Whitney and Simone come to her mind and she almost wants to cry. She’ll be picking beans with Geraldine in the Russells’ backyard garden and then remember how Simone always loved helping granny in the garden. Or Eve will be listening to a spirited debate between Reggie and TC about something tennis-related and she’ll think, ‘Whitney would certainly have an opinion about _this_ …’

Eve also has unexpected thoughts or reminders of her other child. Once in late July she overhears someone saying that Julian Crane has moved back to town and is assisting his father at Crane Industries. Another day, walking to the clinic, Eve is positive she sees him passing her in a car. She immediately thinks of their son and wonders if Julian is making any progress in his investigations. She had hoped that maybe she could access information about her son’s “death” through the clinic’s computer system — except there is no computer system! Everything is still done the old fashioned way, which would leave a paper trail if Eve did start poking around too much.

Sometimes Eve will be reminded of the future Harmony when she encounters someone like Pilar or Edna Wallace. It’s uncanny to see a little baby and know that’s the future owner of the Book Café. Or that the toddler by Pilar’s son and the infant in her arms are Antonio and Luis. At these moments, Eve is almost dizzy by the memory of their future selves. The trials and tribulations awaiting them. Assuming, that is, everything hasn’t be completely altered in this reality. After all, the Butterfly Effect dictates that even the slightest change or action can have massive repercussions down the line.

There’s one person who hasn’t changed one iota, Eve is startled to discover mid-September.

Eve is out for a jog early one morning along one of the trails down by the estuary. This has become her favourite place to be by herself, especially before any other walkers or joggers show up. There’s usually a fine layer of mist on the water, herons silhouetted by the rising sun, and the fresh sea smell rolling in from the nearby harbour. There are ponds and channels that the trail weaves through, into which all manner of birds and critters flee as Eve runs by. Except this morning, she nearly plows headlong into a _woman_ who is climbing out of the marsh.

The woman lets out a startled cry and drops the basket she’s carrying. The lid bounces off and out tumbles an wriggling pile of frogs, newts, and snakes. Now it’s Eve’s turn to cry out.

“Blast you!” the woman says snippishly, getting down on her hands and knees to scoop as many of the animals back into her basket as possible. Eve, once she’s recovered from the initial shock, wants to be of help but also can’t bring herself to touch any of the slimy creatures. The woman is cursing and mumbling to herself. She’s wearing a beige safari hat atop of a mountain of golden curls, and a pair of overalls that are soaked up to her chest.

It’s only when the basket is fastened shut again that the woman straightens up and Eve gets a look at her face.

“Tabitha??”

Tabitha’s eyes widen at the sight of Eve.

“I… Who are you?”

But there was something in Tabitha’s eyes that registered… recognition.

“It’s Eve. I mean, my name is Eve.”

“How did you know who I am?” Tabitha asks, suspiciously.

Eve can’t believe what she’s seeing. Tabitha looks _exactly_ the same as she did in 2003. How is this possible?

“I… I…” Eve is uncertain how to proceed. “I don’t know,” she finally says unconvincingly.

“Well Miss Eve, I suggest you mind your own business,” she says, nodding toward her basket of reptiles and amphibians. “I’m an… an amateur biologist here in Harmony. No one needs to know where I get the subjects for my research.”

‘Amateur biologist?’ Eve has never heard anyone say such a thing about Tabitha Lenox. The only thing she’s ever heard is that Tabitha is a witch.

The thought gives Eve a shiver, but before she can contemplate it further, Tabitha has slung the basket over her shoulders and pushed past Eve, her boots making loud and unpleasant squelching sounds as she hurries down the path.

“Bizarre,” Eve says aloud, shaking her head. She continues her run, putting the encounter out of mind. But that night Eve can’t sleep. TC is at his house, which means there’s plenty of room for tossing and turning in her bed. She thinks about Tabitha and that queer look of near-recognition. It was like Tabitha could some how see through the lie Eve and TC were living here in Harmony. And then there was also the fact that she apparently hadn’t aged in the intervening 35 years. Tabitha had certainly been the weirdest resident of Harmony for as long as Eve had lived there — and that’s saying something, given some of the Harmonytes Eve had come to know over the years. Only a month before the earthquake, Tabitha had discovered she was pregnant. Eve had never heard of such a case, not in some one of Tabitha’s advanced age. It was miraculous.

Eve thinks about all the times she scolded Whitney and Simone and Kay when they were little girls for saying that Tabitha was a witch. Suddenly for the first time, it doesn’t seem like such a crazy idea. After all, if unprovoked time travel is possible, couldn’t witches and magic also be a thing? The idea goes against every scientific bone in Eve’s body. And yet she herself was living, breathing proof that there is more to this world than meets the eye.

She wonders what Sam and TC have to say about Tabitha. Has she always lived in Harmony? What do locals think of her?

This is when Eve notices the muffled sound of voices from the living room. Ivy isn’t there that night, so it must be the TV. If Sam can’t sleep either, maybe now is as a good a time as any to ask him about Tabitha. She puts on a dressing ground and slips quietly from her room. It’s only when she’s standing in the hall outside the living room that Eve realizes it’s not the television — Sam is having a conversation with some one and it’s definitely not Ivy.

“I told you, Noah, I don’t want to see you in Harmony ever again.”

“Sam, you don’t mean that.”

“How much do you want to bet?”

“Look, I know it can’t be like it was at the police academy. But you’re saying you don’t want to be friends at all anymore?”

“It would be… It would be a constant reminder. Neither one of us needs that.”

“Speak for yourself. I need you in my life, Sam. Even if we’re just friends. Even if you don’t feel something more for me.”

“I don’t. I never did.”

“That’s not true and you know it.”

“I have a girlfriend, Noah. A girlfriend I love.”

“Oh. You do?” Sam’s words have clearly struck a blow. Eve can’t believe what she’s hearing. Her heart is racing and she’s terrified Sam will round the corner and catch her eavesdropping.

“I do.” And now Sam’s voice takes on a more tender tone. “And I really do mean it when I say I love her. I’m not trying to hurt you, Noah. What we had at the academy was… I’ve never had a friendship like ours. There was a closeness between us that I don’t even have with my best friend, TC.”

“That’s not the same kind of ‘friendship’ and you know it. It’s like apples and oranges.”

Now Sam sounds frustrated. “What went on between us at the academy was just a couple of guys letting off steam, okay? It wasn’t what you’re suggesting. What we did… that sorta thing happens all the time in the army. In jails too. Any time there are a bunch of guys together and no women to, uh, relieve some of the tension.”

The man, Noah, scoffs. “You seriously think you can convince me that’s all it was to you? A little ‘tension relief’?”

“It was. And don’t forget, you swore this secret would never leave the academy. This is our business and nobody else’s. You promised.”

There’s a long silence. Eve practically holds her breath to keep from being heard. She realizes that Noah is crying. Almost imperceptibly, but when he speaks next she knows there are a tears in his eyes.

“So that’s it then. We’re through?”

“It is,” Sam says with finality but also a bit of that tenderness eking into his voice. “Noah, you’re a wonderful man. You’re fantastic. And you’re going to make somebody the luckiness woman in the world. Just give it time and—”

“Sam, it’s not like that. I’m never going to make some woman happy because I’ll never be happy myself. Not without y—”

“STOP. I’ve heard enough. Get out, and this time don’t come back. I don’t want to see you in my town ever again.”

Eve leans in as close as she can to the doorway without being seen. She’s waiting for Noah’s response. But one never comes, at least not in words. Eventually there are footsteps and the sound of the front door opening and shutting softly. That’s it.

Sam sighs and sits down on the sofa, his head in his hands. Eve turns to tiptoe back to her room, however, the first step causes a floorboard to squeak.

“Eve?” Sam is alert and on his feet in seconds.

She closes her eyes tightly. She can’t believe her bad luck. But there’s no denying her presence, so she turns back and enters the living room.

“Hi Sam,” she says, sheepishly.

“How much did you hear??” he looks more fearful than angry.

“I heard … enough,” she says finally.

Never in a million years would Eve have guessed Sam Bennett ever experimented with or experienced any sort of same-sex attraction or intimacy. The look of shame and humiliation on his face right now is more than she can bear. If only he had the wisdom and hindsight of 35 years the way she does. She knows what a growing majority Americans have come to know by 2003: that there’s nothing wrong with being gay or bi. But in 1968, in a small New England town, and with a father as notoriously stern and conservative as Samuel Benjamin Bennett… Eve can understand how something like this might be difficult for him. To put it mildly.

Eve sits down on the couch besides Sam and takes his hands in hers.

“Sam, there’s nothing wrong with being—”

“I’m not though!” He pulls his hands from her. “Eve, I’m not. When I tell you I’m in love with Ivy, I mean it. This isn’t an act. I’m not a … homosexual.” It’s a struggle to get the word out.

Eve knows he isn’t lying about Ivy. She knows the love and attraction is genuine between them. Just as it was between Sam and Grace. Sam is falling into the trap of assuming sexuality is a binary, that there’s nothing in between gay and straight. But how can she explain this to him without sounding patronizing? And without scaring him any further.

“Sam, I believe you. You don’t have to prove yourself to me or to anyone.”

“I’m a man!” he says firmly, not seeming to believe her.

“Look Sam, it’s not my place to question your sexuality. I don’t need to because I know you.” (Know you better than you could ever imagine…) “What you said to your friend is true, that sometimes men will do things with other men because of… circumstance.” Eve thinks about a recent training held at Harmony Hospital designed to help staff use the phrase ‘men who have sex with men’ rather than assuming such men are gay because, as the training facilitator noted, some men who engage in that kind of sexual activity don’t necessarily identify as gay. “And other men, do so because they’re capable of have sexual or romantic feelings towards both men _and_ women.” Eve was totally in doctor mode right now, but her counsel seemed to be helping Sam calm down.

Still, he says: “Eve, it’s not like that with me. I care about Noah, and we … we did … But that was then. It was a mistake and it kills me to think of potentially losing Ivy over it.”

“She won’t hear anything from me. I promise.”

“And you won’t tell TC? He’d feel awkward if he knew. I know he would. The times we’ve showered together after a game or a workout — he’d think I was checking him out all along. And I never have! I’ve never done that with anyone. Noah was just.. He was different. But now I’m scared he’s going to tell people about what we’ve done together. He’s going to ruin everything.”

There are tears in Sam’s eyes. And fear. It’s clear he has been bottling up this anxiety for awhile. Eve again takes his hands. He seems to collapse into her now, unburdened for the first time in months.

“Sam, from what I overheard, it didn’t sound to me like Noah is the vindictive type. I don’t imagine he’s going to spread this around town just to spite you or destroy your relationship with Ivy.”

Sam sniffs. His nose is runny now. He hates that he’s crying in front of Eve, someone he’s only known for a few months. But maybe that’s made this easier for him. She’s not someone like TC, with whom he has a lifetime of history. And Eve is the furthest thing from judgemental. She’s the most progressive person he’s ever met. 

“And you won’t tell TC?”

“I won’t tell TC.” She reiterates. She means this too. TC has always had such a big heart, he’s always been caring and empathetic towards others. But over the course of their marriage, she has heard him make a few remarks about gays and lesbians that Eve found upsetting. He did have a homophobic streak, she couldn’t deny it, and this is part of the reason Eve has always been relieved that neither Whitney nor Simone turned out to be gay. Not because Eve wouldn’t support them, but because she knows it would provoke an explosive reaction in TC.

“Thanks Eve,” says Sam. He can’t bring himself to smile — he feels guilty about how things ended with Noah — but he’s deeply relieved.

“We all have things we keep secret,” she says.


	9. Chapter 9

The days leading up to the Harmony Fall Fair are some of the happiness of Eve’s life — both her old life and this new version of it. The surprise with Sam had caught Eve so off guard she lost any thought of picking his brain about Tabitha’s peculiarities (especially the way she appears impervious to aging). Instead Eve went to bed amazed that Sam had kept this part of himself hidden away so tightly there’d never been any inkling of it, neither to her nor TC. It doesn’t change the way she treats him or acts around him. They never bring it up again, but the episode has brought them closer.

A week before the fall fair — which includes an agriculture exhibition and carnival — TC and Sam surprise their special ladies with a trip to the country for a weekend away. They rent an old cottage, go apple-picking at a nearby orchard, and Ivy uses some of her Winthrop influence to get them a private tour of a very exclusive vineyard in the next valley over. Nothing can compare to an autumn in New England, the leaves are a brilliant combination of red and yellow and orange. 

At night in their respective rooms, each man and woman make love. Eve and TC are particularly enthralled with each other, physically; re-experiencing sex as two young people is like some beautiful drug or potion. Eve feels connected to her husband like she hasn’t in years.

But despite the romance and the pleasure of this weekend getaway, a sense of dread begins to gnaw at Eve in the final days before the fair. She thinks about the passion that overtook her when she was reunited with Julian in Boston. What will it be like to see him again? And what news will he have about their son?

Looking out her bedroom window on October 15, Eve can see the ferris wheel over the treetops across town. She can already picture the rides and pavilions sprouting around it on the fairgrounds, and she wonders how many of those same attractions were at last year’s carnival in 2002. Sam is in his uniform finishing breakfast when Eve enters the kitchen. Ivy is wearing a bathrobe, her blonde hair tied up in a messy ball atop her head. She has a mug of coffee in her hands and appears to still be waking up.

“Excited for tonight?” Sam asks. “This’ll be your first time at the Harmony fall fair. It’s a community centrepiece every October.”

“Um, yes,” says Eve.

“It’s going to be a busy night on my end,” he says. “I wish I could join you gals for the rides and the games, but Harmony PD will be swamped with drunks and petty crimes, which always increase when there’s a big event like this going on.”

“I’m sure you can find us at some point,” Ivy says sweetly. She hates the thought of being third wheel to Eve and TC. Sam kisses her goodbye but doesn’t make any promises.

Eve tidies the kitchen while Ivy showers, accidentally running the kitchen tap which causes Ivy to be doused in scalding water. “EVE!” she screams angrily from the bathroom. Eve winces.

“Sorry Ivy! I totally forgot.”

Eventually she emerges, scowling, from the bathroom. “How do people live like this??” she asks, gesturing around her at the apartment.

“Some of us have nothing to compare it to,” says Eve, actually forgetting for a moment about the big home that she and TC would one day own.

Ivy has a towel wrapped around her at the chest. The skin on her shoulder and neck are red from the hot water. She is growing to hate this apartment. Slumming it with her lover had been fun for a while, but she is really starting to miss having a maid to prepare her meals and make the bed. She misses having her own bathroom, a big screen TV, a pool. She can also tell that her father is growing increasingly suspicious about where she has been spending so much of her time. And with whom… Ivy had previously relished the thought of telling “the Governor” (as she sometimes refers to him, dismissively) about her relationship with Sam, but some of her confidence is beginning to wane. The thought of being cut off from her generous allowance, and possibly even disinherited, makes her very nervous too…

She’s been waiting until Sam was gone to tell Eve a very different piece of news, and maybe because of the hot water or just her general agitation right now, but Ivy does nothing to sugar-coat it: “Eve, you’ll never believe who Julian is dating.”

Eve immediately feels a pit in her stomach.

“Do you know Rebecca Osborne?”

Eve shakes her head.

“You’ve probably read about her in the society pages.”

Again, Eve shakes her head. “I don’t read the society pages.”

But Ivy ignores this comment. “She is — I mean, _was_ — engaged to a much older man. Jonathan Hotchkiss. He and his brother head a big coal mining company. She comes from old money herself. I think her family came over on the Mayflower….”

Eve is no longer listening though. _Rebecca Hotchkiss._ Julian is dating Rebecca? Eve can’t believe it. Now there’s someone she hadn’t expected to encounter in this timeline, and certainly hadn’t wanted to. She thinks about telling Julian to break up with her but then again, Julian thinks they’re both in fake relationships. Covering up their love so that Alistair won’t interfere in their efforts to locate their son…

Eve does her best to hide any discomfort. “Good for him,” she says. “He’s found someone better suited to him.”

That evening around sundown, she and Ivy meet TC at the entrance to the fairgrounds.

“How lucky am I?” TC says. “Two of the prettiest women in town, one on each arm.”

Ivy gives him a playful shove. “As if!” she says sarcastically.

TC had always loathed Ivy and her conniving ways, but here in 1968, getting to know her on a human level (and without “Crane” attached to her name), TC is growing quite fond of her. He wonders if that will change, should he and Eve ever find a way to get back to the “present”…

The Harmony Fall Fair truly is a timeless attraction. It’s packed with people, and if not for their 60’s attire it might have felt like any other year for Eve and TC. The plush toys hanging from the booths, the games and rides and the smell of frying onion rings and cotton candy.

At one point Ivy elbows Eve in the ribs. “Look who is it!” she whispers. There they are, Julian and Rebecca, arm-in-arm. Eve almost wants to laugh out loud. Rebecca is all over Julian, practically draped on him, not letting anyone for one second forget she’s out with one of New England’s most handsome (and richest) bachelors. Her soft red hair, miles of cleavage, and high-pitched voice all take Eve back to 2003.

“I need to talk to him,” Eve whispers back. Then to TC: “Honey, could you go get us some caramel corn?”

“Sure thing, babe. Anything for you, Ivy?”

“A soda. Diet.”

Eve is about to make a move through the crowd towards Julian when Ivy yanks her back.

“Are you crazy? You can’t just go up to him like that.”

“Why not?”

“You haven’t met Rebecca Osborne. She’ll probably claw your eyes out if she gets even a whiff of competition off you.”

Knowing Rebecca _Hotchkiss_ , Eve can’t dispute this.

“I’ll go and draw her away,” Ivy says. “We’ve met before at one of daddy’s stupid galas. I’ll distract her, then you go and talk to Julian.”

“Thanks Ivy, you’re a life-saver,” Eve says, and watches as Ivy approaches the couple and begins chatting with Rebecca. Julian appears confused at first, then notices Eve and realization dawns. Rebecca is bragging about something or other, and doesn’t notice Julian when he takes a step back from her and then, quickly surveying the area, points to the carnival fun house. Eve nods and he hurries off in that direction. She is about to follow when she feels a hand on her shoulder.

“Where’d Ivy go?” TC is back, a bag of caramel corn in one hand, a diet Coke in the other.

“She spotted an old friend and wanted to catch up with her,” says Eve. Silently she’s cursing her luck. “Ivy will catch up with us. I don’t really feel like meeting someone new tonight…”

They start walking away, Eve trying to steer them in the direction of the fun house. TC is telling her about running into someone from high school who would one day fall from grace, embezzling from his accounting firm to pay off gambling debts. “I wish there was some way I could tell him I’ve seen the future and he needs to steer clear of the casino at all costs,” he says.

That’s when he notices a sign: **Fortune Telling — Gypsy Elmira Sees All**. He points to it with a laugh.

“Eve, we should do it!”

She doesn’t like that idea. Something about the sign and the purple-and-blue canvas tent behind it give her a bad feeling. “No, TC, I don’t want to. Haven’t you had enough of the supernatural?”

“It’s not real,” he says. “That’s what will make it so funny! We already know what the future holds for us. Who knows what ‘Elmira’ will come up with!” He tugs Eve with him through the tent’s door.

Inside the dimly lit space, a woman with raven black hair is seated behind a small table. There’s a small glass orb resting in the centre of the table with two candles on either side. Eve shivers. She hasn’t changed her mind about this, but TC seems totally oblivious to the weird vibe.

“Why hello there,” says Elmira. “I’ve been expecting you two love birds.”

TC stifles a snicker. He gives Eve a look that says, ‘C’mon, this’ll be a hoot.’

“Well we couldn’t pass up on an opportunity to have our fortunes told,” says TC. “Especially by a real-life gypsy.”

Elmira just stares, impassive. It’s then that TC notices there’s only one chair.

“I don’t do joint-tellings,” says Elmira. “You will have to go one at a time.”

“Oh.” TC is disappointed. “But surely you could make an exception, just this—”

Elmira raises a finger and shakes her head curtly.

“Eve,” she says, and this unexpected knowledge makes a chill run through both her and TC. “Why don’t you go first?”

“No way,” Eve shakes her head. “TC, you go first. I’ll wait to hear how yours goes.”

“Are you sure?”

“You heard her,” snaps Elmira. “You go now.” She points to the door. “And close that flap on your way.” There’s something in her voice that sounds vaguely familiar to Eve. She can’t quite put her finger on it, but for now she has the perfect excuse to see Julian. She doesn’t question it.

“You stay, TC. I’ll be right outside.”

Elmira’s mouth contorts itself into a sweetly evil smile.

“If you say so,” TC says.

“I’m positive.” Eve kisses him on the cheek and then hurries from the tent, doing as the gypsy says and closing the flap behind her.


	10. Chapter 10

“Julian?” Eve calls out. She’s standing just inside the fun house. Every so often a child pushes past her and passes through one of three doors. Hall of Mirrors, Ghostly Guests, and Abandon All Hope are written above each one. None of the kids seem interested in that first option, and it’s from behind this door that Julian suddenly emerges.

“Eve!” he says, taking her hand. “I thought you were never going to come.”

“Sorry Julian, it wasn’t easy for me to get away.”

“We’re lucky you had Ivy Winthrop with you. Hurry, come this way.” He pulls her through the first door and into the hall of mirrors. “We should be safe in here.”

Eve wants to tell Julian about TC, who’s currently wasting his time and money in the gypsy’s tent. She wants to end this deception, this fallacy that once they have their son back that she will leave TC to be with Julian again. However, she can’t. She can’t even resist when, after hurrying down a twisty, dizzying corridor of mirrors, Julian kisses her. Pushes himself against her so that her back touches the cool mirror behind her. He is kissing her neck, running his hands from her breasts to her hips. The contact is ten times as intense as their brief encounter in Boston. Just as she’s about to kiss him back, he pulls away from her.

“I’m sorry,” he says, blushing. “I have wanted nothing more than that for months now. When I’m with Rebecca, I try to pretend she’s you but there’s truly no comparison. No one could ever replace you.”

“Don’t apologize,” she says, trying to compose herself. Every time she moves her hand, she thinks she’s seeing someone out of the corner of her eye. A hundred little gestures, all around them. “We don’t have much time though. What have you learned?”

“It’s been slow,” he says. “It will take much longer before father truly admits me to his inner circle. But I’m making some progress. He approves of my new ‘relationship.’ He and Rebecca’s father are old pals from their days at private school. He thinks she will make a fine addition to the family.”

“But no further information about our son?” Eve is crestfallen. She’s been building this up in her mind for months. If Julian was to say ‘Our son is in Canada’ Eve would have left with him that very night to find him. However, Julian can offer no such definitive information.

“I’m sorry, Eve,” he says. “I still haven’t found him. But it’s not all bad news — Orville Perkins is willing to meet with us. _He_ has information.”

Eve’s eyes lit up. “When can we speak with him?”

x

Meanwhile, TC is with Elmira. She is silently reviewing a complex arrangement of tarot cards in front of her. She also has a small crystal ball. TC is getting bored and wishing he hadn’t suggested this activity. He wonders if he could just pay the gypsy and be on his way?

Of course, the gypsy is none other than Tabitha Lenox. She donned a black wig and some makeup, then cast a simple spell to bind the costume together and make it look authentic. She truly does look like a different person. There’s even a wart on the side of her nose and ring in one eyebrow.

When TC Russell and Eve Johnson entered her tent, she immediately knew one of them was keeping something from the other. Her witch’s intuition told her there was trouble to be made between these two. She remembered Eve from that morning when she was out by the estuary collecting live ingredients. There had been a spark of recognition between them, but Tabitha hadn’t known where it was coming from. She had never seen the attractive young woman before. Now she has that feeling again, this time about TC. What’s different is that she’s known who TC is his whole life, as a resident of Harmony. Tabitha remembers TC’s parents when _they_ were children. But today, looking at TC, there’s a deeper recognition and she refuses to let that get past her.

TC is just opening his mouth to say something when Tabitha’s eyes widen. She appears genuinely surprised by something she’s seeing in her crystal ball. A grin slowly spreads across her face.

“Incredible,” she whispers under her breath, as knowledge of the ensuing thirty years unfurls before her. She is pleased to know that her treachery will persist well into the 21st century. She’s also amazed at her own future abilities; that was able to send TC and Eve back in time like this. Time now runs on two parallel tracks — or maybe they’re dimensions? Tabitha will have to consult her texts when she gets home — which means that TC and Eve’s future children and friends are grieving the loss of these two pillars of the community. Furthermore, there are secrets aplenty that Eve has been keeping in that time and this.

“Sorry lady, but I’ve got to go,” TC says, pushing his chair back.

“’Sorry lady,’” Tabitha mimics him snidely. “How rude. You’d never let Whitney or Simone speak to their elders that way.”

“What did you say?”

“Reading one’s cards takes time, but if you have better things to do, by all means, go on your way.”

“How did … How do you know about Whitney and Simone?”

“I’m a fortune teller,” Tabitha says innocently. “It’s my job to look into the future.”

TC feels a pit in his stomach.

“What do your cards tell you about Whitney and Simone?”

What the cards really tell Tabitha is that TC is happy with the current situation, re-living his past, building a new and better future for him and Eve and his parents. He would secretly like to stay in this time, while Eve wants to get back to their ‘present’. Tabitha’s fingers are quivering at the thought of sowing discord between them, and so she says: “I see… I see… sadness for your daughters. I’m not sure what they’re grieving… Perhaps something that has happened to you and their mother?”

TC thinks about their reappearance in 1968 and what that could mean for the world they’d “abandoned” in 2003 if it still existed without them. He feels sick to his stomach.

“But don’t worry,” Tabitha says, in a voice that’s meant to sound sincere and reassuring. “I see their grief passing. Several months have gone and they’re okay. In fact, better. The pain they felt has made the girls stronger, more resilient. Whitney is playing tennis again. Simone is pursuing medicine like her mother. They’re thriving and happy.”

The thought makes TC want to cry. He misses the girls so much. And yet it sounds like they’re actually doing better without them. He thinks about all the negativity and drama within the Russell family in recent years. His constant interfering in their personal lives, trying to stop them from being with Chad. His explosive fight with Whitney when she chose to leave Harmony for LA… They are actually doing better without him in the picture.

“This is many, many years in the future,” says Tabitha. “You’re still so young. You need to focus on the present and your girlfriend. Before it’s too late…”

“What do you mean, ‘too late’?? You said yourself that Eve and I are going to have daughters some day.”

“It’s just I see other forces at play that have the potential to alter the course of your relationship. Of your life.”

He thinks about his father and the positive changes he’s undergone in the past few months. He is no longer mired in depression. He’s healthy and happy like the old days before the accident. If TC is able to positively influence his father, it would make sense that there could potentially be negative forces that impact his own trajectory through time.

“What forces?”

‘Me,’ Tabitha thinks, resisting the impulse to smile.

“The cards and my crystal aren’t always clear,” she lies. “But I see Eve is with someone right now… Some one who poses a threat to your happiness together. Someone who has already had a devastating impact on your life. On your tennis career…”

TC’s whole body tenses up. “Julian Crane?” he says coldly.

Tabitha leans closer into her crystal ball. She squints at it with one eye. “I don’t know who it is. But I see her right now —”

“But she’s just outside the tent. Eve!” he turns and calls for her to come back into the tent. However, the flap doesn’t move. TC realizes he can’t hear any of the carnival noises outside anymore. Just the sound of a candle wick crackling close by and the occasional clinking of “Elmira’s” bangles and bracelets.

“She’s not,” Tabitha says harshly. “She’s with a man. A man I see who’s apparently destined to hurt you and those you love.”

“It’s Julian Crane, I’m positive,” he says, furious. “But what do you mean, Eve’s with him? How could that be?”

“I can’t make out what they’re saying, but it appears to be quite serious,” she says. “Maybe they’re talking about…” And now Tabitha again focuses her gaze on the future, on the turmoil and pain caused to Eve by…

“Perhaps they’re talking about her sister?”

TC is confused and his face makes this obvious. “What do you mean? Eve doesn’t have a sister?”

“She does,” says Tabitha. “A younger sister.”

The candles in the tent seem to be burning brighter now. The magic Tabitha is tapping into is powerful. She’s hungrily sifting through as much information about Eve as she can, focusing on pain and anguish from throughout the woman’s future and past. Tabitha suddenly sees Crystal Harris, shot dead on Harmony’s wharf. Then she sees Liz, making threats of exposure on multiple occasions. But there’s something else. Something bigger. What is it??

“Where are my wife and Julian?” TC demands.

Tabitha is hardly listening though. She’s fixated on the crystal ball, with such an intensity her magical force is wearing away at the earlier disguise spell.

“Elmira, what are you seeing??”

Something at the hospital.. Something bad happened, traumatic, at the maternity ward at the hospital in Boston. But what?

For a half an instant Elmira’s “mask” disappears. It’s no more than a flicker, but in that moment she looks like some one TC knows.

“Tabitha?”

She looks up from the ball so quickly, her concentration broken so abruptly, that the orb cracks. TC flinches at the sound. Fearful her identity will be revealed to him, Tabitha decides Eve’s secret from the hospital will have to wait. For now, she needs to get TC out of her tent.

“The Hall of Mirrors,” she says. “That’s where Eve is right now with another man.”

And before TC can ask any more questions the candles blow out and he’s is plunged into darkness. He can’t see a thing and stumbles towards the exit. He emerges into the noisy, glittering spectacle that is the Harmony fall fair. Music, laughter, couples holding hands, children with candle apples, the sights and sounds and smells all hit him at once. It’s a sensory overload that almost makes him throw up.

He steadies himself and looks around. Sure enough, Eve is nowhere to be seen. _The Hall of Mirrors_ , he thinks, remembering the fun house he’d spotted earlier. He looks back at the tent. Another couple has walked past him and are entering. He wants to warn them not to, but he’s gripped by what he learned, that Eve is talking to a man destined to hurt him and the ones he loves. It has to be Julian Crane. A mixture of rage and adrenaline flood his veins, and TC takes off towards the fun house.

x

“I have to go back to find TC,” says Eve. They are going to meet with Perkins next month. Everything’s in place.

“I know,” says Julian. It pains him to part from her though. “I should really get back to Rebecca… But not before—” And at that moment, he pulls her into another kiss. She told herself she would resist but now that it’s happening, she seems powerless to stop him. Instead she’s kissing him back.

TC has entered the Hall of Mirrors, his head turning around constantly. Each step casts several more, he catches each one out of the corner of his eye and thinks it might be Eve. He hurries down the twisting corridors, repeatedly bumping into glass walls. Then he looks and sees his wife in the distance. Is that her? Is that someone’s hand on her lower back? Is she… kissing someone??

He steps forward and she disappears, now he can only see a hundred reflections of himself.

“Eve!” he shouts. He doesn’t move. He hears a voice whispering something. Then his wife calls back to him.

“TC, where are you?”

“I wish I knew,” he mumbles. He puts his hands out in front of him, finding only air he advances until he feels a mirror against his fingertips. He sees movement and a dozen Eves are walking towards him for a second, then they turn a corner and all vanish. Then for a second he sees a man. Was that…?

“JULIAN!” he roars. There’s no response. Wonders if his eyes are playing tricks on him.

TC rounds a bend and suddenly his hand touches another person. Eve whirls around. “TC!” she hugs him. “I’ve been lost in here for what seems like an eternity.”

“Eve,” he kisses her as though they’ve been separated for years. “I was so worried.”

“Worried? Why?”

“I just… You didn’t wait for me outside the tent,” he says.

She feels her face flush. “I’m sorry,” she says. “I just got bored and wandered off. And then I made the mistake of coming in here.”

TC looks around, expecting to see some one else but they appear to be alone.

“Who were you here with?”

“Me? No one.”

“I saw a man. Just for a second.”

She smiles and gives his hand a playful squeeze. “You’re sure it wasn’t your own reflection?”

“No,” TC insists. “It looked like a white guy. I didn’t get a look at his face. Was it Julian Crane?”

“Julian Crane?” Eve puts all her effort into sounding shocked. It’s convincing. “Why would he come to a place like this?”

TC scowls. “The man loves nothing more than his own reflection. A hall of mirrors seems like just the place he’d go.”

Together they retrace TC’s steps and leave the attraction at its entrance, rather than the exit.

“How was ‘Elmira’?” Eve asks.

“It—”

Before he can get another word out, Ivy is standing in front of them.

“Thanks for ditching me guys!” she pouts. “I wanted to do the Fun House, too!”

There’s a tense energy between the couple that wasn’t there before. Ivy picks up on it and decides to stop whining. “What’s up?”

“Nothing,” they both say simultaneously.

“TC went to have his fortune told,” says Eve, trying to change the subject. “How was it?”

“We can talk about it later,” he says.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is linked to Chapter 10 of my 'Past and Present Collide' story.

But ultimately, TC keeps to himself most of what the fortune teller said. He doesn’t want to give life to the notion that Eve would do anything with Julian Crane or that she has a sister she’s kept secret for all their years together. Both are preposterous. And yet the gypsy _had_ known about Whitney and Simone. What’s more, she’d seen them happily moving on with their lives, thriving in the world TC and Eve had involuntarily abandoned. This part of the fortune he did tell Eve. On some subconscious level he hoped it would make her stop talking about finding a gateway or portal back to 2003.

“I can’t believe it,” Eve said about Whitney and Simone being better off without them. The idea stung.

TC didn’t push it — if only Eve had been there, maybe then she would understand — but he is convinced of its truth. In his heart, he feels like he’s lost any chance of seeing the girls again. In a few years, he and Eve could conceive again, they could plan it just right so that Whitney would be born the same year as before. Simone too. He tries not to think about the genetic randomness that occurs during conception. A Whitney 2.0 was _highly_ unlikely to be anything like the original. Better to leave Whitney and Simone to their lives in Harmony without him and Eve. They had been given this chance to start anew, so why not accept this fact and have new children?

However, Eve refuses to give up. She’s still convinced they can find a way back to their old lives. She doesn’t want to trust some silly carnival gypsy’s predictions. She doesn’t want Whitney and Simone to truly be happier without them.

‘There’s no such thing as magic,’ she tells herself. But, once again, this insistence bumps up against her own lived experience. Magic or the supernatural _must_ be real if people can be transported from their living rooms into the past. Or an alternate timelines or whatever it is they’re experiencing now in 1968 while life carries on in 2003. Magic, gypsies, time travel — thinking about these topics brings an old suspicion back to mind. Tabitha Lenox. Eve realizes she never pursued that theory. The revelation about Sam’s secret had pushed it from her mind until now. Could Tabitha actually be a witch? And if so, is there a way she can use her powers to solve this problem?

But first, Eve needs to find her son.

It’s November when Eve and Julian meet again. That’s when he arranged for them to speak with Orville Perkins. It’s a clandestine rendez-vous in an industrial part of Boston. It couldn’t be in Harmony, he insisted. He doesn’t want Alistair to find out he’s speaking to them.

So Eve makes up an excuse for Sam and TC, who are hanging out at Sam’s place that night watching football. Then she meets Julian across town. Together they drive up to Boston and meet with Orville at the appointed location, just after dark. Eve is wearing a pair of denim bellbottoms and a striped blouse she's tied in a knot at her midriff. Her denim jacket is open despite the chilly air, her hands are jammed in her pockets.

A car pulls into the lot and approaches them quickly, and for a minute Eve is afraid it’s going to ram Julian’s car. However it stops just before them. A man gets out and Eve recognizes him — a younger version of the man who, years later, would pose a threat to exposing her secrets.

Orville looks nervous.

“I shouldn’t be doing this,” he mumbles, more to himself than anyone.

“We will never tell anyone. Honestly,” says Eve.

“It’s not you two I’m worried about,” he says, glancing around. “Alistair has eyes everywhere. I know that better than anyone.”

“Why all the cloak-and-dagger, Orville? Couldn’t you have told me at the Crane Mansion the next time you’re there?”

“There isn’t going to be a ‘next time,’” he says. “I’m quitting.”

Julian is shocked by this development.

“What do you mean? Father would never let you walk away from Crane Industries. Not with information like you’ve got. Or the things you’ve done…”

Orville laughs bitterly. “You think I don’t know that? There’s only one way to ‘quit’ working for Alistair Crane…”

Eve knows exactly what that means. She says nothing.

“In a little over 24 hours I’ll be boarding a plane at Logan International. Your father thinks I’m heading to Buenos Aires to carry out a hit. What he doesn’t know is I’ve procured a new passport, a new name, a new life for myself. This business with your baby was the last straw. If you hadn’t talked to me, Julian, maybe I would have kept on the way I had been… But no, I’m done with this job and I’m done with this life. Tomorrow night I’ll be heading to—” He catches himself before he says it. “Let’s just get this over with.”

Julian nods. “So where is our son?”

“He’s with an adoptive family. The Clarksons.” Orville says. “They’ve named him Vincent.”

“Vincent Clarkson.” Eve experiences a tremor of excitement at the very mention of that name. Their son. That lost baby boy who’s haunted Eve her entire life. He has a name.

“ _Where_ is our son?” Julian demands. Orville is looking tense. He’s never defied Alistair before. He looks ready to jump in his car and speed off.

Glancing around he reaches into his coat. Eve is half expecting him to pull out a pistol and shoot them both, but instead he retrieves a tiny slip of paper. He hands it to Julian.

“At this address,” Orville says. “This is all I can tell you. Good luck.”

And now he turns and hurries back to his car. A wind has picked up and the belt of his trench coat is flailing. With a squeal of his tires, Orville is gone, leaving Eve and Julian alone in the parking lot.

Eve wants to say “We did it!” but she knows they’re not there yet. She smiles though. Julian grins, too. He holds the slip up paper up between two fingers.

“The Clarksons,” he says, victory ringing in his voice.

But no sooner has he said the words then the wind catches the paper and rips it from his fingers.

“JULIAN!”

He tries to snatch it from the air, but it’s pulled just beyond his grasp, whipping across the parking lot. They both give chase, not wanting to lose sight of it in the dark. It’s blowing across the pavement now.

“No no no no no,” Eve is saying as she notices a sewer grate directly in the paper’s path. “JULIAN!!” But screaming is no use. The paper with the Clarksons’ address — their only other detail about their son — catches and then gets sucked down the grate, just before they reach it. Eve lunges at the grate, grabbing onto it and yanking frantically.

“Eve, I am so, so sorry,” Julian says. “This wind, it … I … I should been holding on to it more firmly.”

She wants to weep. She wants to scream, to lash out at him. But she knows it was an accident. She knows that will accomplish nothing. She stares down through the gaps in the metal but it’s useless. The paper is long gone.

Without saying anything to Julian, she starts walking back to the car, wracking her brain for possible solutions. She continually murmurs Vincent’s name under her breath, fearing that she might somehow lose that too.

“Eve!” Julian hurries after her. “Eve, please!”

“We need to go back to Harmony,” she says. “There must be someone else at Crane Industries who knows something.”

Julian shakes his head. “I wish there was, but Orville was the only one who could help us. And you heard him, he’s done with us Cranes.”

“You don’t understand,” Eve says, not listening. “If we don’t go soon, we’re going to lose our chance.”

“But Eve, we’ve tried everything. I don't know what more we can do to find him.” It’s not like Julian to give up so quickly, but he’s been working on this for months and the only information he was able to get literally just went down the drain. He feels utterly defeated.

“I do,” she says. Now though she’s thinking of Tabitha. If Tabitha is a witch, then surely she can find their son for them. The stress of the situation is making her almost delusional. She’s grasping at straws. “Julian, I know this sounds crazy, but I know who we need to talk to.”

“How?”

“It’s... it’s too hard for me to explain, but you need to trust me.”

Suddenly an eerie feeling comes over her. She shivers.

“What’s wrong?” Julian asks.

“I don’t know, just this weird feeling all of a sudden.”

At that moment, Julian ties to pull her in for a kiss. She pushes him back.

“Now what? Eve, you’ve been acting so strange. For months now, every time I see you—”

“I don’t want you to kiss me. I don't feel that way about you anymore.” She doesn’t mean it, not entirely, but she’s also sick of leading him on when she’s a married woman. She has a husband and lover and friend in TC, and the deception to both men has been tearing her up this whole time. “But Julian, we need to work together to find our son and spare him a life of heartache.”

“When did things change between us?” Julian asks.

Eve looks exasperated. “Please Julian, don’t question this. Can’t we just focus on—”

For half a second, she feels a hand on her, and it’s not Julian’s. At the same time she feels it, there’s a familiar voice saying “Grace, no!”

She looks all around them. It sounded like Charity Standish, Grace’s niece. Julian looks utterly bewildered. ‘Am I hearing things now?’ Eve feels faint.

“Eve!” Julian catches her just as she falls backwards, limp like a rag doll.

When she comes to a few minutes later, Julian has placed her in the front seat of his car. He’s about to take her to a hospital when her eyes open.

“Darling!” he says, hugging her. His face is lined with concern, and for a moment Eve sees the face he’ll grow to have later in life. “I was so frightened!”

But she holds a hand up to silence him.

_“Eve? Are you there?”_

It’s Grace. As clear as day, Eve is hearing the voice of her best friend.

“Yes!” Eve says eagerly into the otherwise silent car. Julian looks frightened.

_“You're alive! Everyone's been so worried!”_

“My girls?” she says instinctively. “Are they okay?”

_“They're OK! Whitney is in LA and Simone is still here in Harmony. They're heartbroken and lost without you and TC. Eve, people are saying that you and TC ran away together to start over. Is that true?”_

“Absolutely not,” Eve says, shaking her head.

_“Were you injured in the earthquake?”_

“No…” Eve says, uncertainly. What earthquake?

_“Are you trapped somewhere?”_

“Yes!”

_“Do you know where??”_

“Well… Yes and no,” she says, looking at Julian.

“Eve, what’s going on? Who are you talking to?” he asks.

_“Where, Eve? Tell us and we will come and get you. I'll tell Sam and Luis. We'll call the FBI - whatever it takes!”_

“You don’t understand, I’m in Boston but… it’s complicated…”

_“Boston? You're in Boston?”_

“Yes, but—”

“And TC's with you?”

“No, he’s—”

_“Do you know where he is?”_

“—in Harmony.”

 _“Where Eve? Where is TC??”_ This time it was Charity’s voice, startling Eve.

“He’s… he’s at Sam’s house,” Eve says. Then something occurs to her. “Grace, Charity: it’s 1968! We’re in the year 1968!”


	12. Chapter 12

“You still awake?” asks Sam in the darkness.

“How did you know?”

“You’re not snoring,” he teases.

Ivy pinches him. “Very funny, wise guy.”

“But seriously Ivy, what’s up?”

She’s thankful for the darkness. She doesn’t know what Sam might read on her face. She’s resting with her head against his bare chest.

“I’m just thinking about Eve and TC.”

What’s really been keeping her up at night was a recent conversation with her closest maid, Gyselle. Gyselle happened to overhear a meeting between Governor Winthrop and none other than Alistair Crane. It had started out as discussion of loosening some state regulations in Maine that Alistair wanted for one of his factories there. But when the shop talk was done, the men moved on to their children.

_“Yes, my Julian has finally come to his senses and dispensed with the … loose women, and has found himself someone with a respectable lineage, one worthy of the Crane name.”_

Gyselle had been dusting the room. As usual, it was like she didn’t exist to the Governor or his high-power guest.

_“Who might that be?”_

_“Rebecca Osborne.”_

_“Ah, yes, Miss Osborne. I heard she broke her engagement to Jonathan Hotchkiss. She and Julian must be quite serious.”_

At this Alistair made an amused noise. _“I don’t hear church bells in the near future, but I would give the union my blessing if needed.”_

_“If only my daughter could find a man like Julian. She’s only interested acting out some silly fantasy down in your neck of the woods with some yokel cop.”_

When Gyselle told this part, Ivy’s heart had skipped a beat. So her father already knew…

 _“Ah yes,”_ chuckled Alistair. _“Bennett’s son. Just think, you’d have an inside connection at the Harmony Police Department.”_

Both men laughed at this, as though anything important could possibly be gained from that.

 _“It’s a shame she doesn’t have better taste,”_ said Alistair. _“I’d much prefer to see her with Julian than Rebecca. Those Osborne women are all loose canons if you ask me…”_

 _“Ivy will come to her senses. And when she does, we should find some way to nudge them together. Do you and —”_ At this Governor Winthrop broke off, catching himself before saying the name of Alistair’s deceased wife. _“Do you still host that springtime gala at your estate?”_

_“I certainly do…”_

This was when Gyselle had no choice but to exit the room, her dusting complete and nothing left to justify her presence there. She told Ivy about it the first chance she got. While the presumption of her father to try to play matchmaker infuriated her, there was also part of her that really liked the idea of being Mrs. Julian Crane. The places they would go, the things they could do together, the parties and events they could host up on Raven Hill…

“What about Eve and TC?” Sam asks. He gently strokes Ivy’s hair.

“I was just wondering about them as a couple. How they’re doing. I don’t know where Eve went tonight.” In truth, Ivy suspects Eve went to see Julian. Eve claims to be over him, but Ivy isn’t 100% convinced.

“They’re doing great,” says Sam, confidently. “TC sometimes even refers to her as his wife!”

Ivy has noticed Eve make similar slip-ups. If they feel that way about each other, why did Eve go out of her way to see Julian last month at the fall fair?

“Maybe they secretly eloped and they’re waiting to tell everybody,” Ivy says.

“Naw, not TC. He wants to do it right, in the church, blessed by Father Lonigan. He told me recently that he’s going to propose to her in the spring. He wants to wait until the apple blossoms are out.”

“How romantic!” Ivy says. She’s excited for both of them. There’s also a part of her, deep down, that is excited by the prospect of Eve’s relationship with Julian being put to rest, once and for all…


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is linked to Chapter 15 of my 'Past and Present Collide' story.

It’s the next night. Eve and Julian are back in the same parking lot, waiting for the same thing to happen. They’ve been there over an hour. Julian checks his watch obsessively. He can’t believe he’s agreed to return here, especially given Eve’s cryptic explanation of what happened the night before. After calling out to “Grace” and “Charity,” whatever she was hearing had stopped.

Julian wanted to take her to the hospital. Hearing voices? Could this be a manifestation of post-traumatic stress disorder? The shock and disappointment of losing that information about their son’s whereabouts?

But Eve had insisted she wasn’t crazy. She would have stuck around that parking lot all night except that she needed to get home to Harmony before TC or Sam or Ivy began to worry. She told Julian that she had heard the voices of two dear friends, from her life before meeting him, and though she couldn’t explain why or how, she needed to return to this parking lot in the hope that something about this location made it possible for them to reach her.

 _“But it’s just an empty parking lot outside of Boston!”_ Julian had said, perplexed. However, it occurred to him that returning to Boston might not be a bad idea. Orville had said he would be flying out of Logan International the following night, off to start a new life for himself somewhere outside the U.S. Maybe they could catch him at the airport and get their lost information about Vincent’s location.

And so Julian had agreed to come back.

“Maybe it was stupid to think the same might happen again,” says Eve.

“Let’s go and find Orville before he departs. It’s not too late.”

They climb into Julian’s car and he starts the engine.

"Wait!!"

Eve and Julian both look up at the same time. There’s a woman in the parking lot running towards them. A large piece of paper in her hand. It’s Grace.

Eve yanks the door open and is out and running before Julian even fully registers what is going on.

“Grace?? Is that really you? When I sensed you here last night, when I heard your voice and did my best to respond, I knew I had to come back again tonight and hope you would return too. And now here you are! How did you get here?”

“How did I get here?” Grace looks dazed. “I.. I don’t even know to be perfectly honest. A wing and prayer?”

Julian opens his door and steps from the vehicle. “Who is this woman?” Upon approaching them, he sees that paper in her hand is a poster from one of Eve’s shows at the Blue Note. “Are you some sort.. autograph hound?” He chuckles in spite of himself. “Eve, I always told you people won’t be able to get enough of you if they hear that voice of yours.”

But Eve isn’t listening.

“Whitney, Simone — I got your message last night. You said they're OK. You said Whitney’s in L.A. and Simone is still in Harmony, right?”

Julian looks confused.

Grace nods. Eve is overcome with relief at the mention of them. Julian, however, has no idea who they’re talking about. This is the Grace that Eve was supposedly communicating with last night? Some random woman twice their age? Eve had made it sound like Grace was a long lost friend, someone who she didn’t expect to ever see again.

“Eve,” Julian says, placing a hand on her shoulder, “I don't know who this is but if we’re going to get to our son we have go now. We’re going to miss our chance.”

Only now is that fact sinking in for Eve. Orville is planning to go somewhere that even Alistair Crane won’t be able to track him. If they miss this opportunity, there might be no way to find Vincent.

Here by the same magic that Eve ended up in 1968, her best friend — strangely unchanged in terms of age, unlike Eve and TC — has appeared. Maybe Eve can take her hand and return to 2003 right now… Except that would mean leaving TC behind. Not just TC, but also her son, doomed to a fate pre-determined by his evil grandfather…

“Julian, can you give us a moment?”

He opens his mouth to object, but then sighs. “Hurry,” he says, walking around the driver’s side of the car and leaning against it.

“So Grace, you don't know how you got here?”

“Not totally,” she admits. “But how did... How did you get here? There was an earthquake back in July and you and TC were just gone! Everyone's been worried sick.”

“I wish I knew anything more than you do. One minute we were in the living room of our house with Liz and the next minute we were... here, in this year, with these bodies. I can't explain any of it, it was like the past 35 years had all been a dream. Except both of us remember everything. We remember whole lives lived but have had no way to get back. We’re trapped.” And then Eve decides she’s hid long enough from her best friend. “It’s complicated, too, because in this time Julian and I are — were — well, still together. And we have a son. A son who’s been kidnapped by Alistair, and we're close to finding him.”

There are tears in her eyes now.

She can tell that Grace is overwhelmed by everything she’s hearing. “Wh-where’s TC?” she says weakly.

“He’s in Harmony. Again, it's complicated. I'll explain it to you later, for now Julian and I need to go or we're going to miss our chance to find our son and save him from a life of suffering. Alistair, that sadistic fuck...”

“Alistair disappeared, too, on the night of the earthquake,” Grace says. “Could it be he was transported to this time, too?”

Eve scowls at the thought. “Anything is possible. If so, he’s not taking this as an opportunity to relive life as a good man.”

“Eve, please!” Julian calls from the car. “I’m sorry to rush you, but we’re almost out of time!”

She turns back to Grace with a pleading, apologetic expression. “I’m sorry Grace, I have to go.”

“Go? You need to come with me!” Grace takes Eve by the wrist in one hand, the Blue Note poster — her key — still clenched tightly in the other.

Eve looks pained. “I can’t. Not yet. Not without rescuing my son.”

“Will that alter the future? Will he have grown up alongside Whitney and Simone in Harmony?”

“I don’t think so. This world and that world, they’re.. the same but I think they’re... I think they’re running on parallel tracks. If I could save him in this world, it’s the least I can do. In _our_ world — the one in which it’s 2003 and I’m a doctor and you're my best friend — he’ll still be out there, an adult man tormented by whatever fucked up childhood Alistair Crane subjected him to.”

Suddenly an idea occurs to Eve. She puts a hand over Grace’s and looks at her pleadingly. “Vincent Clarkson. That’s his adoptive name. If I don’t make it back to our time, I need you to promise me you’ll find him and reconnect him with Julian. Tell him he was loved at birth and this wasn’t our fault.”

The hand in which Grace holds the Blue Note poster has begun to tremble.

“Eve, I can’t bear to lose you! What will I tell everyone back home? What will I tell your daughters? No one will believe me.”

“Then don’t tell them. Not yet. It would only confuse and upset them. TC and I haven’t given up trying to get back to your world. I just need more time. I have a suspicion someone in Harmony might have knowledge of the… supernatural….”

Julian shouts: “Eve, please!”

She opens her mouth to apologize, but Grace stops her.

“Go,” Grace says. “And good luck. I’ll find a way to rescue you and TC. I’m not sure how, but I’ll find a way.” They embrace. And then Eve is running back to car and climbing in the passenger seat. She can’t bring herself to turn back to Grace one last time. Julian stares at Grace with an uneasy suspicion, then climbs behind the wheel and peels away from her and out of the parking lot.

Eve is crying now, silently. She looks in the rear view mirror and Grace is no longer in the parking lot.

Julian notices this as well. ‘Where the hell’d she go?’ he wonders, but keeps the thought to himself. _“In a little over 24 hours I’ll be boarding a plane at Logan International,”_ Orville had said. That’s basically now. Julian guns the engine and races across the city. Eve has to shut her eyes at various moments, the car deking between other vehicles, Julian laying on the horn when necessary (and sometimes when not necessary).

They pull up at the departures terminal, squealing to a halt in an unloading zone.

“Hey buddy! You can’t park there!” an airport worker shouts, as Julian and Eve spring from the car and begin dashing inside.

“Watch me!” Julian says. He almost tells them his father is Alistair Crane — that name would make any New Englander think twice before calling the cops or their supervisor — but he holds his tongue. Alistair finding out about this is the last thing he wants.

Once inside, neither Eve nor Julian knows where to begin. This is one of the biggest airports in the country. “International departures,” says Eve. They start running in that direction. They’ll check every gate if that’s what they have to do. This is before 9/11, Eve remembers. Airports are so much more lax! Eve pulls a paper she hopes resembles an airline ticket. “We’ve got to go, we’re going to miss our flight!” she shouts to no one in particular, flapping the paper at an agent as she and Julian race past a ticket counter.

It won’t be long before security is chasing them. They’ve passed six gates before Eve begins to feel winded. Her legs ache and yet she can’t bring herself to stop.

“There!” cries Julian. It’s Orville, about five gates away from them. “Orville!” he shouts.

“Yes!” Eve is ecstatic. They’re getting closer, but he clearly didn’t hear them. He’s already shown his ticket and has disappeared onto the jet bridge leading to the plane. By the time Eve and Julian arrive at the counter, the last passenger has gone by and boarded.

“Please,” says Julian to the gate agent. “Our friend… He just boarded the plane. It’s critical that we speak with him.”

“I’m sorry,” the woman says. “You’re too late. The plane will be departing momentarily.”

“No!” Eve says in dismay. “That can’t be. The last person only just got on, there’s still time!”

The agent glances around nervously. Finally she says, “Okay, look, I’ll radio one of the stewardesses and ask that she pass on your message.”

“You don’t understand,” Julian says firmly, “we need to speak with him. It’s an emergency. Life or death.”

She looks alarmed at this.

“Okay, I’ll ask the stewardess to find your friend and get him to disembark. But he’ll have to hurry. That flight is due to depart _now_.”

“Thank you so much!” Eve could have kissed her.

“What’s the name of your friend?”

“Orville Perkins.”

She consults a list of names on a print-out in front of her. She furrows her brow.

“How do you spell his first name?”

Julian spells it out. At that moment he and Eve have the same realization.

“I’m sorry, but you must be mistaken,” the gate agent says. “There is no one by that name on this flight.” She’s gone from sounding sympathetic to sounding annoyed.

“Sorry, our friend recently changed his name, that’s why it’s not on your list.”

“Well do you have his new name?”

Eve and Julian exchange a look. The gate agent switches off her radio.

“Please!” Eve begs. “You don’t understand, if we don’t talk to him now, we’ll never get to. If you could just let one of us on the flight for just a minute! Please.”

Now the woman looks at them as though they’re crazy.

“We can make it worth your while,” says Julian, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a wallet thick with greenbacks.

‘The sight of that wallet is enough to entice even the most prudish employee,’ thinks Eve. The woman switches her radio back on and Eve grins.

“Security to Gate 56,” she says. “I need security at Gate 56.”


	14. Chapter 14

They are escorted from the airport. They give fake names, security doesn’t bother to check their IDs. It is a different time. Eve and Julian are silent for much of the drive back to Harmony. Before they arrive, Julian asks: “Who are Whitney and Simone?” Eve doesn’t even remember saying their names, but obviously she did. “It’s not important,” she lies. Julian can tell, but says nothing. Before he lets her out of the car about a block from her and Sam’s apartment, Julian turns to her and says: “We’re going to find Vincent. At least we have a name. That’s more than we had just a couple days ago.” Eve agrees. She had resented Julian for losing the slip of paper from Orville last night, but missing their only contact at the airport is her fault.

She’s been trying to process everything Grace told her. An earthquake? In Harmony? Alistair Crane missing? It’s all confusing, and will be hard to explain to TC. But the fact that Grace was able to appear to her, through some form of magic, is a positive development. It means that they are not trapped permanently in this world. Now she just needs to think of how to harness and utilize that magic. She almost asks Julian to drop her off across town at Tabitha’s house, but she resists. She needs to find a way to tell TC about her experience without exposing the fact that she was with Julian Crane…

“Good night,” she says, almost like it’s an afterthought. But when Julian kisses her, the electric feeling between them focuses her attention. For an instant, there in the front seat of Julian’s car, none of this magical stuff exists. Her life with TC never happened, her son was never kidnapped. For a brief moment, all that noise is gone. Until she steps away. “Good night,” she says again, this time with warmth.

‘You’re just making everything more complicated,’ a voice in her mind says. ‘What are you doing to TC? Does he mean _nothing_ to you?’

She shakes her head, hoping to dislodge the thought.

What Eve doesn’t know is that TC, unable to sleep, has crept from his bedroom and out of the house. He’s walking the silent streets of Harmony on his way to Sam and Eve’s apartment. Earlier that day, his father had introduced him to the principal at one of Harmony’s elementary schools. (It was the same school that Whitney and Simone attended.) The principal, in turn, had offered him a job as a PE teacher. While TC had always taught and coached at the high school level in his past life, he’d wondered what it would have been like to teach younger students. So many kids arrive at high school with a lot of baggage, and maybe if they’d had a more positive influence in their lives at a younger age, some of that could be avoided. As with his relationship with Reginald, TC is being given an second chance. An opportunity to explore a road not taken.

He told the principal he needed to speak with his girlfriend, but that he was definitely interested in the position, which would start in January. TC doesn’t want to take it if he and Eve were still seeking a way ‘back to the future.’ He doesn’t want to build those relationships with students only to disappear the way he did from 2003.

So he’s coming to talk with Eve, to spend the night in bed with her, discussing their plans.

As Eve nears the front door of her building, she pulls her keys from her purse. Suddenly a shape emerges from the shadows on the sidewalk and approaches her. Eve gasps and drops her keys.

“Eve!” says a familiar voice. “I’m so sorry!”

It’s Crystal Harris.

“Crystal! What are you doing here?”

“It wasn’t easy tracking you down,” she says. “I searched all over Boston for you, but no one had any idea where you’d gone to. Finally I thought that maybe Julian would know so I came down here. Wouldn’t you know, I didn’t get past the front gate at the Crane mansion.”

“The Crane mansion?? Crystal, you should never have come to Harmony.” All Eve can think about is that night on the wharf when Crystal, mistaken for Sheridan Crane, was shot and killed. “You have to leave. Now. I don’t like knowing you’re here. It’s for your own safety.”

But Crystal disregards this comment. Eve is exaggerating.

“You think a quiet little seaside town is more dangerous than Boston? Do you not remember the last time we saw each other?” Eve thinks about that day with Ivy, when the men broke down the dressing room door at the Blue Note. Still, she knows what can happen in Harmony to people who aren’t careful…

“Why are you here, Crystal?”

“Are you going to invite me in?”

Eve hesitates, then shakes her head. It would be too hard to explain to Sam, who might then mention Eve’s beautiful late-night guest to TC…

“It’s your sister, Eve,” says Crystal. This is the last thing Eve is expecting. “You never told me you had a little sister.”

Eve notices the cold November air for the first time. She truly hadn’t thought about Liz for months, at least not the little girl of 1968. Since their reunion two years ago, Liz has become a malignant presence in Eve’s life. All she cares about is torturing Eve, threatening to expose her and destroy her. It’s like that little girl of her youth had ceased to exist.

“I…” Eve’s face is hot. “How did you find out about Liz?”

“She came to Boston. She showed up for the Blue Note looking for you.”

It was coming back to Eve. Liz’s story about coming to Boston to find her, only to be rejected by Eve and Julian, who were still in the throes of their destructive behaviours. Liz had come seeking their protection from her father (Eve’s stepfather). And Eve had ignored her…

“Did she say why?” Eve doesn’t want to hear the answer, but has to ask.

“She said her father had raped her and she was afraid he might do it again,” says Crystal. “I told her she could stay with me until I found you, but she panicked and fled. I tracked her down to the train station but she got away before I had a chance to stop her. The train was southbound…”

“She went home,” says Eve, more to herself than to Crystal.

Crystal nods. “I remember you saying you were from the south. This is why I had to find you.”

Eve pretends this is the first time she’s hearing about her stepfather’s abuse of Liz. Her reaction is sincere, at least in so far as Eve is just now realizing that young Liz has done nothing to deserve Eve’s disdain. She’s innocent of all future-Liz’s crimes and plots. Eve’s eyes are welling up with tears. How could she have been back in 1968 since July and only just now realized her half-sister was still in their hometown, trapped by the same man who abused _Eve_ before she ran away to Boston.

Crystal hugs her. “I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this,” she says. “I get that you’re clearly trying to start over here in Harmony, but I knew you’d want to know this.”

“My sister…” says Eve. “Oh Liz, I’m so sorry for abandoning you!”

“Liz? Liz is your sister?”

Crystal and Eve both turn and realize a man has walked up behind them without them even realizing it. TC has arrived, and just in time to learn the truth about Eve and Liz.

“TC!” she exclaims, her heart racing. How can this be happening?

“Who is this?” asks Crystal.

TC stares at her, trying to figure out where he’s seen her before.

“This is my boyfriend, TC Russell,” says Eve, not taking her eyes off him. “TC, how much did you hear?”

“Enough. Liz Sanbourne is your _sister_?”

He thinks back to the night he and Eve vanished from their living room. Liz had been holding a manila envelope, eager to share something with him.

 _“I have something I think TC needs to see,”_ she said. TC had forgotten about this detail; the strangeness of the situation they’d found themselves in had eclipsed that part of the night. Now he thinks about the carnival and the gypsy’s comments. Elmira had claimed Eve has a younger sister. She was right.

“TC, I’m so sorry for keeping this from you,” says Eve.

He feels winded. He’d been hoping she would deny it, explain there had been a misunderstanding. Instead she was admitting it was true.

“Why?” he asks. There are tears in his eyes too now. Crystal watches them both, amazed and confused at what’s unfolding in front of her. “Why would you lie to me? To your whole family about Liz and her identity?”

“It’s complicated,” says Eve. “I hurt Liz when we were very young. I wasn’t there for her when she needed me and she never forgave me.”

“So all this time you were keeping this from us.”

“I didn’t want to lose you,” Eve says. “And Liz knew this. She was constantly threatening me. She knew it would destroy the way you and Whitney and Simone see me. The way the whole town sees me. I couldn’t let that happen…”

Now Crystal interjects: “What are you talking about, Eve? She’s just a little girl.”

“Who the hell are you?” TC demands. The more he listens to Eve, the more his fury mounts. “This is between me and my wife.”

“Wife? Listen pal—”

“Don’t ‘listen pal’ me!”

“TC! Crystal! Please, stop, both of you.” Eve turns to Crystal and takes her hands, pleading: “Crystal, this is between me and TC. I need you to leave us to sort this out.”

Now Crystal is the one getting angry. “After everything I’ve done for you, Eve, you’re going to tell me to scram? I came all the way down here to warn you about your sister, and all you can think about is patching things up with this asshole?”

“Mind your own business,” snarls TC.

“Crystal, stay out of this,” Eve warns.

The surprise is evident on the blonde woman’s face. 

“I’m sorry,” Eve says quickly. “I am so grateful for you coming to Harmony like this.”

“You make it sound like I just popped down on a whim. Like it was no big deal. I’ve been trying to _track you down_ for weeks.”

“And I’ll make it up to you. I’ll come up to Boston and —”

“Save it,” says Crystal. “This is the last time I come to your aid. I just hope you make things right with sister. You can forget about making things right with your best friend.”

And with that, she turns and storms away from Eve and TC.

“TC, let’s go inside and talk this out,” says Eve. “Yes, Liz and I are sisters, and yes it was wrong of me to keep that from you. But my childhood and teen years were… complicated. I thought I was doing the right thing by not telling you about Liz.”

TC shakes his head in disgust. “I don’t even know who you are anymore. If you could lie to me about something as significant as having a sister — a sister who moved to Harmony, entered our lives, became a family friend — then who knows what else you’re capable of.”

He turns his back on her and starts walking in the direction he came. Eve chases after him. “Stop, TC! Be reasonable. Please.”

When he turns back, rage in his eyes, he almost shoves Eve into a hedge that runs along the sidewalk. He catches himself at the last second.

“Don’t talk to me about reasonable,” he says, blinking back tears. “Go to hell, Eve.”

So shaken by his anger and his words, Eve is powerless to follow him when he continues walking away from her, back towards his parents’ house.

Eve can’t believe all that’s happened to her tonight. She kneels down on the cold concrete, trying to catch her breath and wishing this would all turn out to be some horrible nightmare.


	15. Chapter 15

Crystal is walking to the Harmony bus terminal. She’ll have to wait there until the first bus back to Boston in the morning. The sky is pitch black, not a single star. She shivers. How could her best friend be so ungrateful? ‘I’ve done nothing but support her for as long as we’ve known each other,’ Crystal thinks, a mix of sadness and anger in her heart. ‘I go to all this effort to help her and all she cares about is some new boyfriend.’

The town is silent. There’s just the sound of Crystal’s heels, tapping on the concrete with each step. There’s a blister forming on the side of her foot; she hadn’t dressed properly for this adventure.

She’s so preoccupied with her fight that she doesn’t notice a vehicle coming around the corner behind her. A black limousine pulls up beside her.

She jumps with fright when she realizes she’s no longer along.

The back window lowers. The smell of cigar smoke is wafting from inside.

“Why hello there,” says a man’s voice. “It’s not every night I encounter someone with your beauty. Certainly not in this one-horse town.”

Crystal laughs. “Don’t blink or you might miss me.” She continues walking. The limo keeps pace with her.

“It’s not safe for a woman to be out alone at this hour, even here in Harmony. You never know who might be out there.”

“Thank pal, but I’ll take my chances,” she says.

“Why not let me and my driver give you a lift? There’s plenty of room back here,” he says, amusement in his voice. “I promise I don’t bite.”

Crystal knows she shouldn’t, but the bus depot _is_ awfully far. And that blister on her foot is suddenly searing. “Well…” she says. She _does_ have a can of pepper spray in her pocket if this guy tries any funny business…

Although she can’t see the occupant’s face, it’s like she somehow knows he’s smiling. The limo stops and its rear door opens.

“Okay,” she says, one hand in her purse. She climbs into the back seat. “I’m going to the bus station.”

“Certainly. Although maybe I can make you change your mind…”


	16. Chapter 16

“Sam, you don’t have to do this. Seriously. It’s not too late for you let me off here and go back to Harmony.”

Sam shakes his head.

“No way am I letting you face this bastard alone.”

It’s only a couple days later. Sam and Eve are on the I-95 south, not far from New York City. Eve is in the passenger, Sam behind the wheel of his cruiser. If his father finds out he took an official police vehicle across state lines, there will be hell to pay. Police Chief Bennett treats Sam as a cop first and son second. However, Sam thinks it’s worth the risk.

When Eve came home late the other night after TC ended their relationship, she had been beside herself. Sobbing, shaking, Sam woke to the sound of her crying in her bedroom. He pulled on a shirt, not fully buttoning it, and knocked gingerly on her door. In the short time he’d known Eve, he had never seen her in a state like this. Her face soaked with tears, her hair a mess. She had a suitcase open on the bed and a pile clothes thrown on top of it. She was trembling from crying so hard, and at first she didn’t even see him open the door and peek in.

“Eve! What’s wrong?” he’d asked, immediately coming to her, shoving aside the suitcase and sitting beside her.

When she finally was able to get herself under control, she told him that TC had broken up with her. She told him she had lied to TC about her past, that she had a little sister, and that while she had been here starting a new life for herself, her little sister was raped by Eve’s stepfather — the man _she_ fled from years earlier. These were all details she had kept from TC. Sam tried to reassure her that TC would change his mind, but Eve was convinced it was over, that he would never forgive her.

 _“And as much as I love you and Ivy, I have to leave,”_ Eve said. _“TC needs to be able to count on his best friend and me living with you will just complicate that. Besides, I need to go and rescue my sister. Before it’s too late.”_

So much had happened to Eve that night, from Grace’s appearance in the parking to Orville’s escape at the airport, then the realization that once again Eve had left her kid sister to be abused by their father. Crystal was mad at her, TC was furious. Eve was so overwhelmed by it all she thought she might have a complete mental breakdown.

 _“It’s okay,”_ Sam said, holding Eve as she cried. _“Just breath. Don’t think about me or TC or anyone else, just breath.”_

His advice, his physicality, his reassuring presence — it all helped her to eventually get control of herself. She apologized but Sam refused to hear it. She didn’t tell Sam about the prostitution, but she admitted to having made some bad choices before meeting TC. She almost wanted to tell Sam _everything_ , including the fact that she and TC were secretly a middle-aged married couple trapped in the bodies of their younger selves. But she stopped herself. Sam never judged her. Instead, he looked her in the eyes and promised that everything was going to be okay. He couldn’t promise that TC would take her back, but he would definitely try to talk some sense into him. And he refused to accept her decision to move out.

 _“Everything will work out,”_ he said. _“For now, we need to focus on rescuing your sister.”_

And that was how they ended up together in Sam’s police car, road tripping to South Carolina.

Eve tried in vain to speak with TC before leaving, wanting to apologize and do her best to explain things. But when she arrived at the Russell house, Geraldine said TC was out. Eve wondered how much TC had told his parents. Geraldine was polite, not rude or mean but also not her usual self. Sadness permeated her every word. Eve was glad that Reggie hadn’t answered the door; she wasn’t sure she could handle his disappointment in her.

But she tries not to think about that now. Instead she decides to pick Sam’s brain about a different topic: Tabitha.

“Hey Sam, do you know Tabitha Lenox?” she asks, trying to sound casual.

He laughs. “Yeah, she lives next door to my folks. She’s pretty kooky. How do you know old Tabby cat?”

Eve giggles too. “Something tells me that is not a nickname she’s aware of.”

“Oh, she’s called way worse than that behind her back.”

“Like what?”

“Some people say she’s a witch, but that’s obviously just silly,” he says.

“Why would people make up something like that?”

“I dunno, because she’s an old lady who lives by herself?” Sam says with a shrug. When Eve persists with her line of questioning, he gives her a quizzical look. “Don’t tell me you actually think it might be true. I thought you wanted to be a doctor!”

“I do! And a good doctor is inquisitive by nature. Just like a cop.”

“Fair enough,” Sam says. “My mother once commented that Tabitha hasn’t aged a day since moving in 15 years ago.” Eve tries not to react. “I can’t say I’ve paid much attention to her appearance. I used to be scared of her and avoided her every chance I could as a teenager. She’s harmless, just… weird.”

Eve thinks about the fact that one day Sam’s eldest daughter — feuding with her mother — will move in with Tabitha. She wonders what Sam would think about that bit of information.

Instead, she decides to change the subject.

When they arrive in Viridian Crossing, South Carolina, it’s nighttime. Eve hasn’t been here in seven years, yet the tiny town has hardly changed. As Sam follows Eve’s directions to her family home, the tension in the car becomes palpable.

“I don’t even know if they still live here,” says Eve, but deep down, she knows they do. Sure enough, there’s a sign hanging at the end of their driveway: The Sanbournes. The sight of that last name gets her heart pounding. She had hoped to never see her stepfather — her abuser — ever again. Yet here she is, voluntarily going right back into the belly of the beast. Sam squeezes her hand.

The house is looking even more rundown than Eve remembers from her childhood. The rain gutters are filled with moss and there is a rusting piece of a machinery — maybe a tractor engine? — sitting on the front lawn. The once-white sides of the house have become a greyish olive colour and the railing around the front porch has been snapped in several places, no doubt the result of her stepfather, Rodney Sanbourne’s, many rages.

Eve recognizes a car belonging to her mother, Ruby, but the second vehicle doesn’t look like Rodney’s. He used to drive a pick-up truck but this is a wood panelled station wagon. When Eve knocks on the door, she’s taken aback by the person who answers. Not Ruby or Rodney or even Liz. It’s her Aunt Irma.

“Aunt Irma?” says Eve.

“Evie??” says Irma. For a second her face opens up as though she’s witnessed a miracle. But then it clouds over, becomes stony and forbidding. “Well look what the cat dragged in.”

“Who is it?” calls a voice from inside.

Eve’s knees almost give out. It’s her mother. “Mama!” Eve says, half afraid her aunt will slam the door before she has a chance. Irma Lincoln had always been a formidable presence in the family. While Eve’s father, a Johnson, had been jovial and mild-mannered, his sister-in-law never liked him. When he died and Ruby remarried Rodney Sanbourne, Aunt Irma seemed to approve of the match. Maybe it was because Rodney had attended the same church as her. Regardless, she was stern and humorless for reasons that had always been a mystery to Eve. Ruby was the total opposite. At least she had been, before Rodney — the violent drunkard — had beaten the light out of his wife and chased away her firstborn daughter.

Ruby appears behind Irma.

“Eve!”

The women hug. To Ruby, this is a miracle. She had been so certain they would never see each other again.

“This your man?” asks Irma, dubiously. She jerks a thumb in Sam’s direction. He blushes and shakes his head. “An arresting officer then?”

“No! I’m just a friend who offered to drive her down here,” Sam says. He’s on edge, bracing himself for a fight when Eve’s stepfather emerges from the house. But he doesn’t. Instead, a young girl of 15 comes bounding past her mother and aunt.

“Eve!!” says Liz, worming in between Eve and Ruby and wrapping her arms around her sister.

There are tears, there are disbelieving laughs, there are skeptical frowns (from Aunt Irma). Rodney is out with friends, so it’s just the four women plus Sam, who feels a bit awkward and occasionally steps outside for some air. The reunion is, at least for the first half hour, nothing but positive. However, things become serious when Irma asks: “So why did you decide to come back now? Run out of money and come looking for a handout?”

“Irma!” says Ruby, angry yet also afraid of her domineering older sister.

“Have you forgotten that this little hussy left your family, ran away from home to do God-knows-what? She’s probably run out of money and looking for a quick buck. Probably has a _drug habit_ to feed.”

Eve steels herself against the attacks.

“I haven’t been a saint, it’s true,” she says. “I’ve done a lot of things I wouldn’t want my children to know about. Or my family. But I have turned my life around. I work at a medical clinic now, and when I’ve saved up enough money, I’m going to be medical school. I’m going to be a doctor one day.”

Ruby clasps her hands together, enthralled by the prospect. Irma snorts derisively.

“Fat chance,” Irma says. “Unless of course you plan to sleep your way to the top.”

“Shut up, Aunt Irma,” says Liz. “Leave her alone. You don’t know her.”

“Who’s fault is that?” says Irma angrily. Ruby is too timid to contradict her. Watching their dynamic, Eve can see that the years of living with Rodney have only made Ruby more of a doormat. Ruby sips furtively from her coffee mug and Eve is positive there’s more than just coffee in it.

“I left this family because of what my stepfather did to me. He raped me. On multiple occasions,” says Eve. “Yes, I ran away. I am not going to apologize for that. But I do want to ask for your forgiveness.” She turns to Liz. “I should have taken you with me when I left. I thought about calling the police, but I didn’t trust them to do anything about it. Until I met Sam, I didn’t think it was possible for police officers to be as honorable and brave as the ones on TV or in the movies.”

Again, Sam blushes. Irma is shocked by what she’s hearing. Ruby takes another drink, trying to numb the pain and the shame.

“I was just a teenager when I left, and Liz, you were still a little girl. I thought maybe you would be safe because you’re his biological daughter, his own flesh and blood. But that was foolish and self-serving of me. Can you ever forgive me?”

“Of course,” says Liz, tears running down her cheeks. “Of course, Eve.”

“I’m not going to make the same mistake twice. Liz, you’re coming with me.”

Ruby is speechless. Irma looks at her sister, practically willing her to say something. Finally Irma speaks up instead: “Eve Johnson… How can you even _suggest_ such a thing about your own father?”

“Stepfather,” says Eve.

“It’s true,” says Liz. “I ran away to find Eve because daddy did it to me, too. I knew right away this is why Eve left and I wanted to be with her. I got scared though when I couldn’t find her, and so I came back…”

Irma can’t find the words to argue. Could Rodney really be capable of this? Irma is of a certain generation that would sooner blame a rape victim — claim she tempted the man; she brought it on herself — than question the character of a churchgoing man, but something about hearing this from Liz has penetrated her hard exterior. She thinks of the Bible verse about truth coming “out of the mouths of babes.”

She feels sick to her stomach and needs to sit down.

“Mama,” says Eve, ”it’s not too late for you leave him. You can move north with us. Start a new life for yourself, too.”

Ruby shakes her head. She takes another swig of ‘courage’ from her mug. The effects of the drink are beginning to set in. She narrows her eyes at Eve. “You think I’m going to leave my husband? Our union was blessed by God and I’m never going to break it. He’s … he’s a good man, you haven’t seen him in years. He’s changed. You’ll see.”

“No I won’t, because we’re leaving. Liz, grab some clothes and anything else you can’t bear to part with because I’m taking you with me.”

Liz nods. She hurries to her bedroom and returns moments later with her school bag stuffed with clothes and few special trinkets and keepsakes, including a framed photo of Ruby.

“Liz, you don’t really want to leave, do you?” says Ruby, her voice slurring.

“I do,” says Liz without any hesitation. “I’m never coming back either, mama.”

Aunt Irma wants to fight this — she doesn’t trust Eve — and yet there’s no denying Liz’s sincerity.

Sam hears the sound of truck tires on gravel. He turns around as headlights wash over the front of the house.

“Uh, we should probably get going…” he says.

Eve’s heart is racing. Liz clutches her arm. Ruby downs the rest of her drink.

“What the fucking hell are the _goddamn pigs_ doing on my property?” shouts Rodney from the driveway, upon observing Sam’s police cruiser. He’s been drinking. He stomps up the stairs. When he opens the door and sees Eve standing in the living room, he does a doubletake. “Evie?”

“Don’t call me that,” says Eve, cooly. She’s dreaded this day since she was Liz’s age, and yet suddenly, seeing him there in front of her — bald and fat and sweaty, his untucked shirt stained from the chicken wings he’d been eating with friends at the bar — she can see how truly pathetic he is. And how old. In seven years he’d aged terribly, no doubt from all the alcohol. He is still a broad and imposing figure, one who could surely overpower Eve if he attacked her, but something about him no longer scares her. Instead all she feels is disgust. As he takes in the sight of her, she knows he’s assessing her legs and hips and breasts, drinking in the woman she’s become. He’s practically drooling. “Don’t _ever_ say my name ever again,” she repeats, stepping towards him and slapping him across the face.

He is so taken by surprise that he stumbles and comes crashing down onto the coffee table. It splinters beneath him. Ruby screams and rushes to his aid, but he shoves her aside.

“Coming back here was your first mistake,” he growls, climbing to his feet. “Doing _that_ will be your last.”

However, before he can take more than two steps, Sam decks him. This time he lands on the floor. And this time he does not get back up.

Ruby kneels over him, shaking him. She puts her ear to his chest. “He’s still breathing!” she says, relieved. “He’s just knocked out.”

No one says anything to echo that relief.

“You should go,” she says, surprising everyone. “Go now before he wakes up.”

“Mama, you need to come with us,” says Liz.

But Ruby shakes her head. “My place is by his side,” she says. “You girls go and don’t tell me where you’re headed. If I don’t know, it means I can’t tell him in a moment of weakness.”

Eve and Liz are both crying as they hug their mother. Eve can smell rum on her breath and thinks, ‘Is this what I might have ended up like if I hadn’t gotten my drinking under control? Dependent on an abusive child-molester and unable — or unwilling — to leave him?’

But Eve knows there’s no point in dragging this out any longer. Her mother is not leaving Rodney. Eve doesn’t know what it will take, but for now all that matters is Liz. She has Ruby’s consent, Irma’s a witness to that, so no one can claim Eve kidnapped her little sister.

“I’ll walk you to your car,” says Irma.Sam gets behind the wheel and shuts the door to give the women a moment alone.

“I’m sorry for what I said to you earlier, Eve,” says Irma. She can’t look Eve in the eyes as she says it. Apologizing doesn’t come easy to her. “I was wrong to call you those nasty things, and I was wrong to doubt your experience with Rodney. I should never have approved of my sister marrying that oaf. Maybe deep down I was angry at myself and took it out on you instead. That man has hurt my nieces for the last time.”

Eve and Liz hug her. She’s rigid in their embrace; she’s never been one for hugs or physical affection. But she lets them hug her all the same, patting young Liz on the back.

“Now you girls get out of here.”

But Liz hesitates before getting into the police cruiser. She looks back at the house and bites her lower lip.

“Don’t you worry, Lizzie,” says Irma. “Your mama may be standing by her man now, but she’s still got me. And I’ll be workin’ on her until she finally sees the light and shakes herself free of him. When she does, we’ll come and find you girls. That’s a promise.”

Sam drives a few hours. He wants to make sure they’re a good distance from Viridian Crossing, just in case Rodney comes to and pursues them. When he pulls into a cheap motel outside of Charlotte, North Carolina, Eve and Liz are lying against each other in the back of the car, fast asleep.


	17. Chapter 17

For second time in their lives, TC and Eve experience the end of 1968. It’s considerably different for both of them. Although TC is heartbroken about his relationship with Eve, things are definitely better for the Russell family more broadly. His father is healthy, mentally and physically, and is even on the founding committee of Harmony’s brand new youth centre. Although TC’s injury will never allow him to play tennis professionally, he has developed a fulfilling job as a tennis coach and now will be starting at the elementary school as a gym teacher. Even before his first day of work the high school is already trying to poach him, but TC insists on following through with his commitment. However, when he learns the high school only has a male tennis team, he agrees to come coach — in addition to his job at the elementary school — but only if the school forms a girls team, too. TC thinks about Whitney and how many other talented players like her could be waiting to be discovered at Harmony High, if only there was an opportunity for them to play.

Another reason he takes on this extra coaching work is for the distraction. He wants to keep himself as busy as possible now that he and Eve have separated.

Eve’s life is also very different now than it was the first time she lived through 1968. Originally she had still been abusing alcohol, still coming to terms with the kidnapping of her son, and she had left Julian (who would go on to marry Ivy not long after). Now, Eve is living in Harmony, she is off the drugs and the booze, and is working at the local health clinic where she’s seen as a “rising star” and has good relations with the local doctors. Some of them are doctors Eve actually worked with as a doctor herself in her past life. How funny it is to get to know them now, when they’re so much younger. The clinic does lots of charity work, providing health services for free to low-income members of the community. In addition to her professional friendships, Eve has strong connections with Sam and Ivy, and now her teenage sister Liz is also living with her.

However, like TC, Eve is also struggling with heartbreak. For so many years, TC had been her rock. They’d raised two beautiful and smart young women, they’d built a life together, only to have it ripped away from them with no warning. She should have come clean to TC back in July, told him about what Liz was going to reveal that night they disappeared. But no, it’s like Liz had lost all meaning to Eve until it was too late.

TC doesn’t even know about her relationship with Julian, or that _she_ was the one who destroyed his tennis career. There are days where Eve absentmindedly thinks she should tell him, but then what would be the point? He’s already cut all ties with her. She can’t even find a way to tell him about her ethereal encounter with Grace or her suspicions about Tabitha. He refuses to see her.

The year comes to an end, a new one begins.

The apartment with Sam has becoming very crowded. Liz is enrolled at Harmony High and starts in January, a mixture of excitement and trepidation. This isn’t the easiest time to be starting at a new school — halfway through high school no less — but Liz is so relieved to have escaped Georgia and her awful father, she never complains. It’s like Liz has a new lease on life and maybe her classmates notice this because it’s not difficult at all for her to make friends.

Sam insists on swapping bedrooms with Eve (his is larger) so that she and Liz have more space. Ivy is not pleased with this change-up when she comes to visit. She is getting fed up with Liz in general, who Ivy insists has a crush on Sam. “Look at how she follows him around the apartment like a puppy every time he’s home,” says Ivy to Eve, bitterly. Eve just laughs it off and teases Ivy. It is true that Liz is always at Sam’s elbow, always asking him questions and trying to sound mature. Sam just laughs and tussles her hair. When Ivy comments on it in the privacy of Sam’s bedroom, he jokes that maybe when Hank’s a little older, he and Liz might become an item.

While Ivy is not _actually_ threatened by the pretty fifteen-year-old, she is genuinely frustrated with the new living situation. She’s mad at Sam for allowing Liz to move in, rather than insisting she and Eve find their own place. The apartment always looks like a bomb went off in it. Sometimes Liz brings home her new friends, which drives Ivy even crazier. ‘Sam is too easy-going,’ she thinks. The frustration only causes Ivy to further daydream about what it might be like to date Julian or even the newly single Jonathan Hotchkiss.

Julian of course is still dating Rebecca Osbourne, at least that’s the official story. Unofficially, he and Eve have begun finding moments in which to steal away together. Sometimes he’ll meet her while she’s gone for a jog, other times Alistair will be out of town which leaves them a little more leeway and they’ll sneak into the cottage on the far side of the Crane estate. It’s never used, so the furniture is often covered in white sheets. Their first time at the cottage, Eve didn’t realize this is the place that an adult Sheridan will eventually call home.

Just as she wants to tell TC the truth about her past with Julian, she wants to be honest with Julian about her current situation. She wants to tell him about the strange and supernatural circumstances that brought her back in time, and about the life she has waiting for her back in the 21st century. But of course, she doesn’t. She knows it would sound just too crazy.

She’s not the only one of them keeping a secret. Julian recently discovered that Crystal has become Alistair’s new personal assistant. He was shocked when he encountered her one day in his father’s study. _“Alistair is out, Julian,”_ she said. _“Do you have a message for your father or something I can help with?”_

He was flummoxed. His father frequently hired assistants based on their measurements as opposed to their training or expertise, but in Crystal he had found someone with more than just a beautiful face and great stage presence. Crystal was smart, she was savvy, she was sharp as a tack and not someone to mess with. She explained that Alistair had given her a ride the night she warned Eve about Liz’s father. Alistair made her an offer she couldn’t refuse. _“You can’t tell Eve I’m here though,”_ Crystal made Julian swear. _“She’s got it in her head that as long as I’m in Harmony, my life is in danger. I don’t know where this idea came from but it’s silly.”_

Julian pretended to not be in touch with Eve at all, that they’d split up ages ago. Crystal rolled her eyes. _“Nice try, Julian. Look, I will keep your secret from your father if you keep mine from Eve. You don’t tell her I’ve taken up residence here, I won’t tell Alistair that you and Eve are still knocking boots.”_

He agreed.

Before long, New England is beginning to thaw out after a bitter winter. The snow is melting, the first robin makes its appearance. Crystal is hiring florists and planners to handle the annual spring gala hosted by the Cranes, compiling a guest list of business and political elites, as well as a handful of local charitable organizations. The philanthropic arm of Crane Industries never wants it to look like the town’s richest man has forgotten his community. Among the invited organizations: the new youth centre’s board of directors as well as representatives from the medical clinic.

“I’ll never set foot on the Crane Estate,” swears Reginald Russell when he receives his invitation in the mail. He shakes the paper and envelope ruefully, about to tear them in half when his wife stops him.

“Slow down,” says Geraldine. “This could be a really great opportunity. A chance to meet some of the best and brightest of New England society. Lots of interesting and accomplished business people. Not to mention bright young ladies.”

“Woman, what are you on about?” he says.

She points in the direction of the stairs. TC is up there, his door shut. When he isn’t working or coaching, he tends to spend a lot of time alone in his room, reading. Geraldine has talked before about how that’s no way for a young man to spend his time. Sometimes TC complains it’s his injury acting up that keeps him in his room, but she knows that’s just an excuse. TC doesn’t see Sam as much as he used to — although they do still get together to shoot hoops or grab a beer and watch the game — and has certainly expressed no interest in women. Geraldine thinks he needs to get back on the horse, even if it’s just a rebound after Eve. She convinces Reggie to speak with some of his fellow board members at the Youth Centre and see if TC couldn’t go to the gala in his place.

“I don’t think he’ll want to though,” says Reggie. TC’s hatred of the Cranes has only ripened with age.

“You leave that to me,” says Geraldine. True to her word, she does manage to convince him to say yes — with her as his plus one. She claims to have always wondered what it would be like to attend a fancy ball at the Crane mansion, and this would likely be her only chance. In truth, she couldn’t care less about the Cranes and their ilk, but this might be a chance for her son to meet the woman of his dreams. There would be eligible, beautiful girls from throughout New England in attendance.

One such woman (although not single): Ivy Winthrop. Her father, the Governor of Maine, will be attending and he insists she does the same. He is still convinced there’s a way he can get his daughter wed to Alistair’s son, cementing a dynasty that will control the eastern seaboard for generations to come. Ivy agrees to go but warns him that she will be taking Sam Bennett, the man she loves. Governor Winthrop is furious but can do little to stop her. His wife sooths his nerves and assures him that their daughter will eventually see the light and realize she has no future with some small town police officer.

Eve similarly resists the invitation, but is cajoled into changing her mind. First her colleagues insist she come because there will a lot of deep-pocketed guests at the gala and they need Eve to help find new donors for the clinic. Second, there’s Julian, who wants nothing more than to see his love elegantly dressed and occupying the refined world that he was raised in — a glimpse of what their lives could be like once they find their son and reveal to Alistair that they are still a couple.

He is continuing his pursuit of information on their son, but still has had no luck. Eve, meanwhile, has been secretly pursuing someone very different in her spare time: Tabitha Lenox.

For months Eve has been trying to speak with Tabitha, but the elderly Harmonyte always seems to evade her. Every time she approaches Tabitha’s house, the lights go out when she gets near. No amount of knocking summons the old woman. Once, Eve looked back over her shoulder after leaving Tabitha’s house and saw the lights were back on. She rushed back and continued knocking, however, still no one answered. There was once when Eve happened to spot Tabitha at the grocery store; she called out her name and hurried after her down one of the aisles, only to round the corner and find no one there. And yet another time, Eve was cutting through Gabriela Park one snowy evening when she noticed Tabitha on a small footbridge. Eve was at a distance but shouted all the same. She could have sworn the woman on the bridge turned to look at her, but when Eve arrived it turned out to not have been a person after all, but rather a statue of a smiling woman. The small plaque at its base read: “In Commemoration of Yet Another Harmony Do-Gooder Twit.”

Naturally, Eve thought it was a very odd monument, and she was made to sound like a crazy person when she mentioned it at work one day. There was no such statue on the footbridge in Gabriela Park. Sure enough, when Eve went to check that night, there was no statue.

These occurrences only confirm for Eve that there is something strange about Tabitha. That she might truly be a witch.

Tabitha, meanwhile, has been increasingly alarmed at Eve’s efforts to confront her. _Tabitha_ knows that _Eve_ knows, which is why she’s been avoiding her at all costs. She remembers when she read TC’s fortune at the carnival, the life he and Eve had lived together before being hurtled backwards 35 years. She needed to do the same to Eve, find some way to learn about her life in the hopes that she could manipulate her into dropping her little investigation.

Taking the form of a young woman, Tabitha animates one of her dolls and brings him along to the health clinic as her son, Timmy. While Eve is giving the small boy his measles vaccine — “Princess! Please, don’t let her poke Timmy!” — Tabitha tiptoes over to Eve’s desk and quietly rummages in the top drawer. ‘Aha!’ she thinks, snatching Eve’s hair brush. All that hair can be used in conjuring and spells, ways of looking into Eve’s past — which also means her future.

Back at home, Tabitha turns Timmy (still griping about the shot he received) into a doll again without giving it a second thought. She drops strands of hair into her large blue bowl and begins weeding through the events of Eve’s life. It is a long and circuitous process, certainly not a one-day job. Tabitha picks away at it bit by bit over days and weeks. She sees Eve setting Orville Perkins’ house on fire, she sees Ivy blackmailing Eve to help split up Grace Standish and Sam Bennett, she sees Liz coming to Harmony and confronting her long lost sister. However, more interesting for Tabitha is the mayhem _she_ causes in the town. These visions in her bowl are giving her ideas. She looks over at her doll and says: “Tell me, Tim-Tim, does it count as plagiarism when you’re copying your own work?” She grins and rubs her hands together.


	18. Chapter 18

As the weather gets warmer, TC begins coaching the boys tennis team at Harmony High. He holds try-outs for the new girls team and is pleased when over a dozen 15- to 18-year-olds show up. He gets them started right away warming up and then running drills. It’s not long before he has a sense of the eight students he’ll probably wind up picking for the team. He’s on the fence about one though, a bright and vivacious girl with tightly curled locks and who may not have the greatest aim but whose focus and determination is undeniable. TC wonders if her slight resemblance to Simone is influencing his desire to give her the eighth spot on his team.

“Alright girls, gather ‘round,” he says. “I’ve been taking notes and have an idea of who’ll be making it onto the roster this year, but let’s do attendance real quick so that I know everybody’s name.”

He’d been so keen to get underway that he had neglected to do this right off the top.

Each girl says her name when he points to her. “Liz Sanbourne,” says the Simone lookalike.

TC’s eyes widen.

“What’s the matter coach?” she asks.

He shakes himself out of his stupor. “My bad, Liz. You just have the same name as a woman I used to know.”

He dismisses the girls and takes a seat against the chain-link fence that surrounds the tennis courts. “That’s her,” he whispers, almost in disbelief. As soon as he knows it was Liz, the similarities to Simone — and even Whitney, the more he thinks about it — make sense. That was their Aunt Liz. She must have come to Harmony to live with Eve.

Thinking about her stirs up all sorts of complicated emotions in him. His anger at Eve for keeping that secret for all this time, but also a newfound anger at Liz — not the high school student he just met, but the adult, the woman who came to Harmony under false pretenses. Eve had said Liz wanted to expose her… Liz had been toying with Eve for months but she’d also been toying with him, with his daughters. Eve was a liar, but so was Liz. Now he finds himself feeling a confusing sort of ambivalence about the whole situation. Had he been too rash? Had he been too quick to throw away a lifetime of love and care, all because of an exposed lie — a big lie, truly, but just one.

The more TC reflects on his reaction to Eve’s deceit, the more he wonders if maybe he’d been so willing to assume the worst and to throw away their relationship because Eve, unlike him, wants to get back to the 21st century. He wants to stay put and maybe deep down, he saw Eve as an obstacle to that desire.

“Son, what’s wrong? You haven’t touched your meal,” says Geraldine a few nights later at dinner.

Once again, he’s been lost in thought all evening.

“Mom,” he says, a little uncertain. “What if I made a mistake breaking up with Eve?”

Reggie almost drops his fork and has to work hard to mask his expression. He was so disappointed when TC and Eve broke up, he’d love nothing more than for them to get back together. He tries his best not make this position obvious. Geraldine has a more measured response.

“What makes you say that, hun?”

“I’ve just been doing a lot of thinking,” he says. “I wonder if maybe I overreacted.”

“We Russell men do have short tempers,” says Reggie. Geraldine shoots him a silencing look.

“You told us that you couldn’t trust Eve. That she lied to you, betrayed you. You never got into specifics but those are pretty serious charges,” she says. Geraldine loved Eve too, but she’s protective of her only child. She’s known some deceptive women over the years, ones who could lie faster than a horse can trot. That’s an expression TC’s grandmother sometimes used, and it’s stayed with Geraldine her whole life.

TC admits it’s true, that he still isn’t sure he can trust her. Maybe he’s wrong to second guess himself.

“Why not give her a call?” suggests Reggie. “She came by here so many times in the beginning looking to talk to you, but you always refused. Maybe she’s still open to it?”

“I’ll think about it,” TC says, excusing himself from the table. He decides to go for a walk to clear his mind. He ends up going for hours, treading every square inch of Harmony. Except for Eve and Sam’s street. Eventually he finds himself down by the bus depot. He imagines taking the next one out of town, leaving everything behind him and never looking back. But that’s a ludicrous idea. It wouldn’t solve any of his problems.

He watches as people board a bus to Boston, among them Tabitha Lenox. Another bus is disembarking at the same moment and TC is surprised to see Ivy step off. Since when does Ivy Winthrop ride Greyhound?

He walks around to the terminal’s entrance, and waves to her as she’s coming out with her suitcase.

“TC!” She’s delighted. She hasn’t seen him since the break-up. When he and Sam get together, it’s either at the Russell house or their favourite bar. She’s sad about having lost out on their budding friendship, but her solidarity is to Eve first and foremost.

They hug and stand outside the station catching up for a while. She tells him about her car breaking down and how “daddy” refused to let her take one of the other vehicles as punishment for her ongoing relationship with Sam. TC tells her about his new job, about his coaching gig at the high school.

Ivy pretends to be interested in the Harmony High tennis teams, but it takes a lot of work. TC, like Sam, has such a provincial life. At least Eve has spent time in the city, singing in dingy bars, having a secret love child. She’s so much more worldly than the guys. ‘It’s not like anything interesting ever happens in towns like Harmony,’ she thinks. ‘I can’t believe I rode on _a bus_ to come all the way down here.’

“Well TC, I guess I should get going. I told Sam I’d call him when my bus arrived,” she says, cocking her head towards a phone booth.

“I could walk you there,” he says without thinking. “I can carry your bags for you.”

Ivy hesitates. She supposes that TC wouldn’t have asked if he didn’t want to run into Eve. Then something occurs to her: if Eve and TC get back together, that would put Julian Crane back on the market. (Ivy doesn’t consider Rebecca an actual contender for the Crane scion’s heart.)

“I’d be honored,” says Ivy, smiling.

She and TC walk across town to the apartment. When they’re outside the building, Ivy says, “I could let Eve know you’re down here if you feel at all like seeing her…”

“Oh. No. I should probably get going.”

“TC, c’mon, cut the crap. We both know you wanted to see her tonight. And I _know_ that Eve would want to see you. You’re the only man she’ll ever want to be with. She says so all the time.”

Before he can protest, Ivy grabs her bags and hurries inside.

After what seems like an eternity, Eve emerges from the building. Neither of them knows what to say in that moment. They stare at each other breathlessly. Then they both start to say something at the same time, then stop. “You go ahead.” “After you.” They speak over each other a second time. Now TC can’t help but grin. Eve wants to smile but is almost afraid to. She was not expecting to see him like this.

Finally TC says: “Liz is on my high school tennis team.”

“This means she made the cut?”

“I haven’t released the list yet, so best keep that to yourself for now.”

Now Eve smiles. She nods.

“When I saw her at try-outs, I knew there was something special about her. I didn’t clue in until she told me her name.”

“Her father — my stepfather — was abusive,” says Eve. “I had to get her out of there. I’m still kicking myself for letting it go on any longer than it had to.”

“Hey, go easy on yourself. Travelling back in time is a stressful and confusing experience,” he says, trying keep the mood light. “Who could blame you for not thinking of it. I’m sure part of you had locked away so much of that history. Put it out of your mind the moment we were away from Harmony and Liz and her efforts to manipulate you.”

“I should have told you,” says Eve. She’s hugging her arms, closing herself up physically. “I should have told you even before any of this happened. The day Liz appeared in Harmony I should have come clean about the way I abandoned her as a child.”

TC shakes his head. “Eve, I was wrong to lash out at you. And I don’t want you to think I blame that girl upstairs, she’s not responsible for what Liz did in our world. You were young, you made a bad choice—”

“Bad _choices_ , TC. Plural.”

“And who hasn’t?” Now he steps up to her and puts his hands on her shoulders. “I shouldn’t be holding you accountable for something that happened so long ago. It’s ridiculous to throw away what we had.”

Eve’s heart is fluttering. She wants to kiss him but she’s afraid to. She doesn’t feel like she deserves a second chance. And furthermore…

“TC,” she says. “I know you have your heart set on staying in this world. In this time. But I need to get back to ours. And I think it’s possible. I’m going back and I need you to know that before you say anything about us getting back together.”

He’s silent. She says sounds definitive.

“Eve, I … I’m scared that it’s the wrong decision. That we’re going to upset all the positive impacts we’ve had in this timeline, only to go back and do the same thing to our daughters. Whitney and Simone are better off without us there. Or at least without _me_ there…”

“Says who? Some gypsy at the Harmony fall fair?”

“She knew things, Eve. What reason would she have for making that up?”

“I don’t know,” Eve admits. “But TC, I spoke to Grace and _she_ says the girls miss us terribly. She said there was an earthquake the night we disappeared. Alistair is missing and presumed dead. Whitney is living in LA and Simone has remained in Harmony. They need us. I’m certain of it.”

“How did you ‘speak to Grace’??” His eyes are like saucers. He has to lean his back against the building’s brick wall in order to steady himself.

“It was like… She found some way to open a path between their dimension and ours here. One minute she wasn’t there, the next she was. We didn’t have much time, but it was enough to prove that it’s possible for us to get home.”

“Did she tell you how she managed to get here?”

Eve shakes her head. “I don’t know. It all happened so fast. But TC, if we could find someone with knowledge of magic and the supernatural, I’m _positive_ we could do the same thing, only make it permanent.”

Gypsies, magic, dimensions — it all sounds so absurd, Eve decides to just plow ahead. “I think that Tabitha Lenox is a witch.”

Before he can say anything, TC remembers that brief moment during his ‘reading’ with Elmira. For an instant — just an instant — she’d resembled Tabitha. It was like a cloaking device in a sci-fi movie, one that flickers and reveals a spaceship. He’s not 100% sold on the idea though. After all, he just watched Tabitha board a bus for Boston earlier that night. Why would a witch need to use long-distance ground transportation?

TC takes Eve’s hands and looks her in the eyes. “I love you, Eve. If you think there’s a chance that Tabitha is a witch and has some way of getting us back to Whitney and Simone, I support you. We’ll figure this out, one way or another, and we’ll do it together.”

Eve feels a knot in the pit of her stomach. When she thought there was no chance TC would ever take her back, she had let her passion for Julian take hold, sweep her away. But now she _is_ getting a second chance with her husband. And together they could find a way back to their old lives…

She squeezes his hands, tears filling her eyes.

“I love you, too, TC,” she whispers.

“So you’ll take me back?” he asks.

“I should be the one asking that question, not you,” she says.

“My answer would be yes. A thousand times over. Unless of course there’s anything you think I should know about that would make me reconsider?”

Eve bites her lower lip. She thinks about Julian. She thinks the accident that cost TC his tennis career.

“No,” she says, kissing him. “There’s nothing.”

He smiles and returns the kiss, cupping her face in his hands. “Good.”


	19. Chapter 19

“Hey TC, just saw your lady getting off the southbound from Boston.”

‘Your lady,’ TC thinks, shaking his head. Instead he says, “Thanks Mike! I knew I could count on you.”

He hangs up the phone but only for a second. He calls Eve. “The phoenix has landed,” he says.

Eve giggles and says: “See you in 10.”

TC paid one of the attendant down at the bus depot to let him know when Tabitha Lenox returned from Boston. He’d have to hope that Mike would be working when she did, and he was in luck. It was almost a week later, a Saturday afternoon, when TC received the call from Mike.

Tabitha takes a taxi to her house. She’s exhausted but oh so pleased with herself. She had managed to track down the Standish sisters, descendants of her old nemesis, and both were sources of light and good with the potential to vanquish evil beings like Tabitha. _If_ they came fully into their powers, which Tabitha has sworn to prevent. In the case of one of the twin sisters, she has been partially successful. After a week in Boston, planning carefully and waiting until just the right time, Tabitha burned down the apartment complex in Boston where the Standishes lived, killing Grace along with more than 50 innocent souls. Faith escaped the blaze, but Tabitha will get her eventually.

For now though her magical energy is utterly depleted. It hadn’t been as simple as starting a fire and then running away. She’d had to use her powers to shut off hallway sprinklers and smoke detectors, to jam emergency exits shut, and to tangle the hoses of firefighters or scramble the radios of first responders.

She stinks of smoke, she’s weary, but she was smiling blissfully the whole ride home from Boston. Just as she had taken the bus up to the city in order to conserve all her magic, so too did she take the bus back to Harmony, this time because she is (temporarily) all out of magic. The boys in the basement will be very pleased with her work last night.

Tabitha is so distracted by these thoughts that she doesn’t notice the two people approach her from behind as she unlocks her front door.

“Hi Tabitha!”

She whirls around. It’s Eve and TC.

“Why hello there,” she says, forcing a smile. It’s not easy keeping up this routine as the quirky but kindly town kook. “Can I help you with anything?”

“You might not remember me, but I’m Eve Johnson. I ran into you last year while out for a jog down in the estuary. I think you were collecting frogs?”

Tabitha pretends not to remember. She has the door open and is about to step inside when TC pulls out a clipboard and says: “We’re actually here doing a survey about the new youth centre. I was wondering if we could trouble you for just a few minutes of your time?”

“As you can see, I’m really not someone who will be using the youth centre,” says Tabitha, with a self-deprecating gesture.

TC thinks: ‘Eve wasn’t kidding. Tabitha looks the exact same in 1969 as she does in 2003! How did I never notice that she hadn’t aged a day since I was teenager?’

“You’d be better off going next door and surveying little Hank Bennett,” says Tabitha. “I’m sure he would be a good—”

“Oh no, we want to speak to Harmony _taxpayers_ ,” explains TC, still smiling. Tabitha has inched a little further into her house, and he moves a tiny bit closer instinctively. “We want to know what citizens like you think of the centre’s new programs and services, and whether you think the money is being appropriately spent.”

Reggie would kill TC if he found out his son had snatched some official Youth Centre letterhead in order to make their “survey” look legit.

“That sounds a little too political for me,” says Tabitha. “Taxes and revenue and spending — it’s all over my head. I just try to keep things simple. Have a nice day though!”

She’s about to close the door on them when Eve lets out a cry and falls forward in a dead faint. TC tries to catch her but she goes crashing face forward, landing sprawled across the threshold of Tabitha’s house. The faint was so realistic that concern on TC’s face is genuine.

“Eve! Eve, are you okay?” He kneels by her and gently pants her face.

Her eyes slowly open. “I’m so sorry,” she says weakly. “I’ve been feeling rather anemic lately. I’m not sure what’s the matter.”

TC looks up at Tabitha, almost catching her mid-scowl. But she changes her expression to one of worry.

“Can we use your phone Tabitha? We should call an ambulance.”

“I’m so sorry, I don’t have a telephone,” she says. “But we can go over to the Bennetts and use theirs.”

“No no,” says Eve, trying to get to her feet. “I’ll be okay. I just need water. I hate to ask, but Tabitha could we come in for a glass of water?”

Now Tabitha doesn’t bother hiding her scowl. Eve looks at her innocently.

“Of course,” Tabitha says flatly. “But you must be quick. I don’t like having guests when my house is untidy.”

She hurries ahead of them into the kitchen. Eve and TC exchange smiles.

In the kitchen, Tabitha is hastily putting away conjuring ingredients she used in preparation for her trip up to Boston. There are bottles of newt eyes, the fingers from a gorilla, and a mountain of herbs and twigs on her tabletop. She stuffs some crystals (including the same orb “Elmira” used at the carnival) into a drawer.

“You have a lovely home,” Eve comments absently as her eyes scan the room. There is a large blue bowl of water sitting on the countertop. When Eve approaches it, Tabitha suddenly looks extra agitated and she grabs the bowl, dumping the water out onto the floor. Eve and TC stare, wide-eyed, and Tabitha says (unconvincingly): “It slipped.”

Tabitha fills a glass of water at the sink, not even checking to see if it’s cool, and hands it to Eve, folding her arms. She’s been avoiding Eve successfully for so long, now that she’s been caught, the ball is in Eve’s court. Is Eve _really_ going to accuse her of being a witch?

TC waits for Eve to take the lead. Eve sips the tepid watching, thinking through how best to proceed. Finally she clears her throat.

“Tabitha, this is an odd question but—”

“I told you, I’m not interested in answering questions for your survey.”

“This isn’t related to the youth centre. It’s about… Well…”

Tabitha can feel beads of perspiration forming at her temples.

“Have you ever heard of time-travel?”

Tabitha furrows her brow. Finally she says: “No. I was never much of a science fiction reader. H.G. Wells was really quite pompous.” And the way she says it, it’s almost as though she’d actually met the father of sci-fi herself.

“Interdimensional travel?”

“I don’t even know what that is.”

“Magic?”

“I haven’t believed in magic since I was a little girl.” But her voice faltered ever so slightly while saying this.

As all this is going on, TC is silently surveying the room, making note of all the strange ingredients lying about. Most significantly, he notices a huge black book that looks like it’s hundreds of years old. There are runic symbols carved into the cover as well as an unmistakable pentagram. TC obviously can’t read the title but he is certain that book is important to Tabitha.

Eve is about to ask her next question when Tabitha snatches the half-finished glass of water from her. “It looks like you’ve recovered,” she says, forcing another smile. “Now if you two don’t mind, I’m an old woman who needs her beauty sleep."

She begins ushering them to the front door. Eve tries to justify staying longer but now Tabitha is rambling about old age and the joys of youth and the importance of napping. She’s talking over Eve, won’t let her get a word in edge-wise until the young couple are back on the front stoop.

“Have a nice day,” Tabitha says, and the door slams shut before either has a chance to say a thing.

Eve blinks, dazed. They had not been expecting Tabitha to so swiftly and effectively eject them from her house. Eve considers knocking on the door and pretending she dropped her purse or maybe her driver’s license inside, but ultimately Eve doesn’t bother. She knows it will be no use. They got lucky gaining access to Tab’s house, and there is no way she was going to let them back in again.

As they walk down the block to where TC had parked his car, Eve swears at herself for not doing more to keep them in the house longer or to wrench the truth out of Tabitha.

“That kitchen definitely looked like she’d been brewing up something sinister,” says Eve. “And when she dumped all that water on the floor? It was almost like she didn’t want me to see inside the bowl.”

TC nods. “Any lingering doubts I had about your theory were erased after her behaviour in there. Don’t give up hope though.”

He almost tells Eve about the large book, what had to be some kind of black magic text. He wants to propose they find a way back into Tabitha’s house, and this time they steal the book. He even opens his mouth to say so but stops himself when he gets an eerie feeling, almost like there’s someone watching them or within earshot, even though they’re the only ones on the street. He decides he’ll tell Eve later.

He’s wise to trust his gut because they _are_ being spied on. Back in her kitchen Tabitha — livid at their intrusion — has filled her bowl with water again and is watching them as they walk away. She squeezes her fists with rage when she hears them confirming their suspicions about her witchhood.

“For now, let’s forget about this and try to enjoy the upcoming Crane gala,” says TC.

Although TC is still technically going with his mother as his date, the thought of also being there with Eve, their relationship renewed, actually makes the prospect of a night at the Crane estate appealing. His parents are both thrilled to learn he and Eve have resolved their differences and reunited.

“Oh yes, the gala,” says Eve. “That’s almost here…”

She hasn’t talked to Julian yet… Instead of addressing the issue, Eve has avoided his invitations to the cottage, avoiding seeing him and instead focusing on her work at the clinic. She’s afraid that he might give up their search for Vincent if she breaks things off with him. But she knows this double life is not one she can continue.

“It will be fun,” says TC. “Sure, we’re going to be surrounded by sharks, but we’ll have Ivy and Sam there with us, too. And my mother.”

Eve puts on a brave face. “It will be a lovely night,” she says.

“The Crane’s springtime gala, eh?” says Tabitha, watching the couple as the climb into TC’s car. She grins wickedly. “That will be the perfect opportunity to do some damage. This troublesome duo won’t have time to expose me if their lives are completely ruined at the gala. Or better yet: if their lives are _ended_ …”

She reflects on some of her forthcoming plots, the ways she will cause problems for the Russells and all their friends in future-Harmony. In fact, there is going to be a similar event in 2001 during which Tabitha and Timmy unleash a magical fog that brings chaos to many couples…

She goes into the next room and picks up her Timmy doll, touching his plastic face and continuing to smile dreamily at the thought of what’s to come.

“It’s true: history _does_ repeat itself,” she says to the doll. “Or would be this be pre-history? No matter. It will be déjà vu all over again for Eve and TC. And as for the rest of those attending the gala: Christmas is coming early…”


	20. Chapter 20

After 20 years on the job, police chief Samuel Bennett Sr. has grown numb to death in some ways. It’s almost like he was born a hard man and was only hardened further by the job. He is a conservative guy, doesn’t like surprises, and certainly doesn’t like when people break the rules — rules for board games, tax codes, criminal law, God’s law. It is that unflinching regard for law and order than ultimately drove a wedge between him and his first love, Edna.

In fact, Edna — who has taken on the last name Wallace, though Samuel isn’t aware of who Mr. Wallace is or when the two would have married — is the first one to greet him when he pulls up at Raven Hill. The Crane’s annual gala has ended abruptly with word of the death that’s occurred. The fog that settled over the area seems to be clearing.

“Sammy! Oh Sammy, you’re here!” says Edna flapping her arms. She’s clearly drunk. “I heard the scream! I heard the scream, and the sound afterwards. Oh the sound! All the way down I heard it!”

As Edna describes “the sound” in ever more detail, Samuel scowls. His dispatcher had sent him to the wrong location. He needs to be down at the beach, specifically the stretch of sand and rocks that is overlooked by the Crane grounds.

“Edna, please, that’s enough,” he says “We’ll take an official statement from you later. For now I have to get down to the beach.”

He is about to get back into his police car when Alistair Crane ambles towards him from the mansion. Elegantly dressed men and women are hurrying to their vehicles, a pall of death now pervades the night, curdling a previously festive atmosphere.

“Police Chief Bennett,” says Alistair. “So glad to know that Harmony’s best is here, responding to such a senseless tragedy.” Alistair is smiling as he puffs on a cigar.

“Mr. Crane,” says Samuel. “I am going to have to get a statement from you down at the police station, but for now you need to excuse me.”

Not waiting for whatever smarmy comment might come next, Samuel gets back in his vehicle. He doesn’t like the thought of leaving Edna with Alistair — especially when she’s been drinking — but he also has more pressing matters. He looks at her and tries to quell the attraction he feels. ‘God she’s beautiful,’ he thinks.

He nods formally at them both and then turns back down the drive and heads to the beach. There’s nothing he would have liked more than to slap that smug look off Crane’s face. Well, except maybe to watch Edna remove her elegant evening dress…

As he drives the annoyingly roundabout way to Lighthouse Point, something occurs to him for the first time since being awoken by a call from his deputy about a death at the Crane Gala: his eldest son, Sam Jr. was a guest at the gala. Though his expression remains impassive, Samuel’s heart has begun pounding. When he finally gets to the beach he has to trudge along the shore for more than half a mile before he reaches the location where his deputy and two other officers are waiting.

“Chief,” says one of them. He looks pale. “This is not a pretty sight.”

They are stationed below a high, high cliff. Samuel shines his flashlight up to the top where he can see a white fence that runs along the edge of the cliff. That’s part of the Crane estate.

“View must be pretty spectacular up there during the day,” he says. He still hasn’t looked at the body. He notes that the fence is not broken at any point he can see. “Tonight though…”

Only now does he turn his flashlight to the tangled mess of flesh and bones at his feet.

In the coming days, most of the gala’s attendees are interviewed. Pilar Lopez, the young maid who was working that night, reports that the victim seemed happy earlier in the night, but later on had seemed concerned or preoccupied. Edna describes being out near the cliff, lost in the fog, when she heard a scream from the victim. And Esmerelda Vanderheusen III, even more distraught than Edna, describes sharing a drink with the victim before some of the guests thought it would be a lark to go wandering in the hedge maze.

Someone phoned Father Lonigan to come to the beach in case the victim was still alive and could be administered last rites, but (thankfully for deceased) that turned out to not be necessary. Upon seeing the body, Father Lonigan had turned a similar shade of white as Samuel’s officer. “That’s a sight that will haunt me for the rest of my days,” he says.

Alistair is unmoved by the death of one of his guests. “I’m not responsible for somebody throwing themselves off the cliff,” he says.

“The victim might have fallen by accident,” Samuel replies coldly.

“That’s why I had that fence installed.”

“The victim might have been pushed.”

“And how would that be my fault?” asks Alistair. “It doesn’t matter. You can check with anyone, I was in the mansion all night.”

Samuel does ask everyone or at least almost everyone. He makes sure to speak to all those who went into the maze that night. There’s something off about the stories he hears. It’s almost like everybody is keeping _something_ from him. The only thing he can say with certainty is that of all the people who went into the hedge maze that night, one ended up dead at the bottom of a cliff…


	21. Chapter 21

On the night of the gala, Noah Griswold was late leaving his house. He was heading upstate to visit his sister, and was waiting — tuned in to the local radio station — to find out what the weather forecast would be. Eventually the weather guy came on and confirmed what the clear sky outside already foretold: It was going to be a beautiful evening across New England. Noah was relieved. He grabbed is wallet off the cabinet near the door, glancing quickly inside and smiling at the sight of the shiny gold badge there. Like Sam, it was less than two years ago that he had graduated from the police academy. He was also an officer in a small town, though not Harmony. He would be driving past Harmony on his way to his sister’s, and naturally would wonder how Sam was doing.

He still got upset whenever he thought about their last time seeing each other, that night at Sam’s apartment back in September.

 _“I have a girlfriend, Noah. A girlfriend I love,”_ Sam had said. _“What went on between us at the academy was just a couple of guys letting off steam, okay? It wasn’t what you’re suggesting."_

Noah took a deep breath to calm himself. There was no point in dredging up the past, it would only upset him. He had the weekend off work and was going to spend it with one of his favorite people in the world, he didn’t want to let a broken heart get in the way of that.

Broken hearts were on someone else’s mind at the same time: In Harmony, as Eve put the finishing touches on her makeup, she thought about Julian. She would have no choice but to see him that night, and she was going to have to finally come clean with him and end their affair — which is how she saw it — once and for all. He would be there with Rebecca Osborne as his guest, and in some ways that was a relief to Eve; Rebecca was so fiercely protective of “her” man, it was unlikely the moneyed young woman would let Julian out of her sight for very long.

“You almost ready in there?” asked Ivy from outside the bathroom door. They were in the apartment. Ivy had dominated the tiny room for most of the evening, and still she felt she needed more time in front of the mirror. She couldn’t believe she’d been reduced to _this_. To getting ready for a night at one of the region’s premier events in a dingy little bathroom that was smaller than her smallest closet back home.

Ivy wore a sleeveless blue formal gown with a v-neck cut, lace embellishments, and long evening gloves. It had been made especially for her by Yves Saint Laurent. She was terrified of getting it caught on something in bathroom but also couldn’t pry herself away from the mirror, constantly touching up her makeup or fretting about her hair.

Eve was anxious for a different reason. She ended up wearing a hand-me-down from Ivy, a salmon-coloured silk evening gown by Givenchy, with an exposed shoulder and feathers along the hemline and running from the shoulder down along the fringe. Liz was mesmerized by how elegant her sister looked before they departed in Sam’s car. Liz had begged to join Eve as her plus-one, but the elder sister refused. She didn’t want Liz going anywhere near the Crane estate if she could avoid it. Alistair may be a vicious racist, but Eve wouldn’t put it past him to have his way with Liz — just as a show of his authority over any woman.

Sam was equally awestruck by the women. He apologized sheepishly for not having thought to rent a limo for the occasion. (In truth he had considered it, but knew he couldn’t afford it. Ivy suspected as much.)

Across town, Reginald was beaming at the sight of his wife in her best dress. It was nothing fancy, no expensive designer names associated with it, but she looked stunning all the same.

“I don’t know where my wife is so we better make this quick,” said Reggie, taking Geraldine in his arms and kissing her. She laughed and swatted at his chest playfully.

“Alright kids, that’s enough,” said TC. He was buttoning up his cuffs as he entered the living room. He couldn’t help grinning at the two of them. They were like a couple of kids on prom night. It was all just further evidence of how well his father was doing these days. In the past, the fact that his wife and son were headed to Raven Hill for a fancy doo would have sent him into a rage for days. But not now. While Reggie still didn’t like the idea of them going to a Crane event, he wasn’t going to let that dominate his emotions.

“I’m the luckiest girl in Harmony,” Geraldine said, taking her son’s arm.

“We’ll see how lucky you feel by the time tonight is over,” said Tabitha, peering into her magic bowl across town and watching the Russells. “Something tells me you’ll be feeling different by this time tomorrow. That’s assuming you’re even still alive…”

“Tabby shouldn’t do anything to Mrs. Russell,” Timmy said, dismayed. He was sitting on the counter beside her bowl, sipping a cocktail.

“You hush,” she warned, pointing a finger in his face. “Or else you’ll be back in doll-mode faster than you can say _martimmy_.” She flicked a nail at the side of his glass.

“Timmy will be good!!”

It wasn’t long before the fivesome had arrived at the Crane estate, a valet taking their conspicuously middle class vehicles from them at the walkway up to the mansion. Once inside, Ivy forgot all about her irritation at Sam’s apartment and began dragging him from one cluster of guests to another, eager to show off her dapper date.

Eve and TC chuckled at her, shaking their heads.

While TC was off getting them all something to drink, Geraldine leaned in close to whisper to Eve: “TC’s father and I are so very pleased that the two of you patched things up.”

“I don’t deserve his forgiveness,” she said, blushing. But Geraldine shook her head.

“Every relationship has its bumps in the road,” the older woman said. “Reggie and I came pretty close to ending things on more than one occasion.” This shocked Eve. “But you just have to have faith that ultimately, true love will conquer all.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” said a voice from behind them. They turned and were surprised to find Julian Crane, the man of the hour, standing behind them. Clearly, their expressions revealed how startled they were because Julian laughed and raised his hands in a ‘don’t worry’ gesture. “I only caught the end of what you said, ma’am. I promise I wasn’t eavesdropping. I’m Julian Crane.” He extended a hand to Geraldine.

She grit her teeth, not smiling but trying her hardest not to scowl either. She wanted to call him out for running over her son, for destroying his tennis career and causing her husband to have a depressive breakdown. Instead she simply said, “Charmed.”

“And I’m Rebecca Crane,” said Rebecca, stepping out from behind him. “Or, I mean, Rebecca Osborne. Although doesn’t Rebecca _Crane_ have _such_ a nice ring to it, Pookie?”

Geraldine used this as an opportunity to excuse herself to find TC. She felt bad leaving Eve with those two rich twits, but she was confident her future daughter-in-law could handle herself.

Eve felt extremely uncomfortable and wished she had escaped with her future mother-in-law.

“It’s nice to meet you,” she said to Rebecca, blushing.

“Rebecca, darling,” Julian said. “Why don’t you go and get us all a drink.”

Rebecca laughed at the notion. “That’s what the help is for. Yoo hoo!” she snapped her fingers at a young woman with a tray of champagne glasses in one hand. When the woman approached, Eve was surprised to see she knew her.

“Pilar?”

Both Julian and Pilar looked confused.

“You know one of our most promising maids?” said Julian.

“Pilar has shown herself more than capable to serve drinks and canapés in addition to cleaning up when the party is over,” said Rebecca, asking in a caustic tone: “Are you also in the home-cleaning industry?”

“There’s no shame in working as a maid or a server,” said Eve angrily. “If you’ll excuse me.” She thanked a somewhat flustered-looking Pilar for the drink and then left the three of them to go in search of TC and Geraldine. Instead she bumped into the last person she would have expected to see

Dressed in an elegant, form-fitting red dress was none other than Crystal Harris!

“Crystal! What one Earth are you doing here?”

Crystal was equally taken aback. She hadn’t considered that her old friend might come to the gala on behalf of the local health clinic. She knew that Eve and Julian had split up, that Julian was with a new woman, so why would Eve want to subject herself to that torture?

“I… I…”

Eve took her by the hand and Crystal flinched. There was a bruise on her wrist — hidden beneath a large gold bracelet tonight — from Alistair. He liked rough sex and did not take “no” for an answer. This was not the only bruise she’d been forced to conceal before the gala.

“I told you not to ever come to Harmony,” said Eve. “This town is not a safe place for you.”

Crystal laughed and put on a confident air, although after spending months as Alistair Crane’s personal assistant, she knew all too well just how true Eve’s statement was.

“I can take care of myself, thank you very much.” Crystal wanted to turn and walk away, but something held her back. She saw the hurt in her best friend’s face and had to admit she couldn’t even really remember what had made her so mad in the first place. “I’m sorry, Eve. I don’t mean to be such a bitch.”

“Don’t say that. You’re not a bitch. I just wasn’t expecting to see you here.”

“I’ve been hired by Alistair.”

“You’ve been _what_?”

“Try to calm down, Eve. I don’t want him to see us and think something’s the matter. Alistair can be very… territorial. And besides, he must not know you were coming. If I didn’t know, then he probably doesn’t either.”

Eve was thinking, ‘Yeah right, he has security cameras everywhere.’ Except this was the era before such cameras were widespread, even among the fabulously wealthy.

“Why would you want to work for Alistair Crane? That man is pure evil. He’s the one who kidnapped mine and Julian’s baby.” Eve said this last part in a whisper.

Crystal was surprised. She was privy to a lot of Alistair’s secrets — she had learned some very sinister things Alistair had done or had hired people to do — but this was news to her. When she was hired by the Crane patriarch, she’d only known he was father to Julian Crane. She’d assumed the rumours about his … unethical … practices were just that: rumours. But now she knew better.

“Working for Crane Industries pays a lot better than singing at the Blue Note,” said Crystal. “Or turning tricks.”

“Crystal you have to trust me, Alistair Crane is bad news. Being with him will only end badly for you. Did you know that some people believe he killed his wife, Katherine?”

Except Crystal knew for a fact that wasn’t true. Katherine had left town with Martin Fitzgerald. Their whereabouts were unknown, but it was a constant source of anger for Alistair. Because of Crystal’s long blond hair, he sometimes inadvertently — during sex — referred to her by the name of his ‘late’ wife. This episodes also often led to his hitting or choking her in rage.

“Shit,” said Crystal, noticing her boss across the crowded ballroom. “He just saw us. I never told him about my connection to you or Julian. Please Eve, you have to keep this secret.”

Eve knew better than to object.

“There’s my lovely assistant,” Alistair said as he approached. “I was looking all over for you, Crystal. I see you’ve met one of the bright lights at Harmony’s new medical clinic. Miss Eve Johnson, how lovely to see you.”

“Alistair,” Eve said with a nod. That was the best she could muster.

“Crystal, I need you to get the paperwork related to you-know-what,” he smiled and winked. “Those gentlemen will be here later in the evening to pick it up.”

“Right away, Mr. Crane,” Crystal said with a nod. “It was nice to meet you.” And with a quick, final glance at Eve, she was gone.

Watching this from her kitchen, Tabitha clapped her hands together. “I’ve got an idea, Timmy. An extra little bit of mayhem to set in motion.”

“Oh boy…” Timmy said nervously, knocking back the last of his drink.

Tabitha pointed her hands at the bowl and there was a flash of light that left Timmy blinking.

In Alistair’s private study, a framed picture on the wall swung forward like a door on a hinge. There was a safe set in the wall on the other side and its dial began to twirl rapidly until finally there was a loud click and it, too, opened up by itself. Inside was a stack of highly confidential file folders. One of them slid out from the pile and slowly floated across the room landing solidly atop Alistair’s desk. Then the safe and picture frame both snapped shut again.

Back in the ballroom, Eve moved to leave but Alistair casually stepped in front of her.

“I must say, I was very surprised to learn you had relocated to my humble hometown,” he said. “Of all the little bergs up and down the east coast, you just had to choose Harmony. You wouldn’t happen to be interested in rekindling something with my son, would you?”

“Absolutely not. I have a new boyfriend, and unlike Julian, _he_ wasn’t raised by a viper.”

“Ah yes, TC Russell. He’s a lucky man. Tell me, Eve, does he know how well you sing?”

Her heart started to race. Alistair could tell he was causing her panic, and his wolfish grin returned.

“Not to worry. I have no interest in revealing your tawdry past with my oaf of a son. Julian has come a long way since the two of you split, and I wouldn’t want to do anything to sabotage your new relationship. My son is a loyal Crane, but also weak. I’m sure knowing a tasty piece of dark meat like you is back on the market might cause him to re-make an old mistake...”

Eve’s blood was boiling but she said nothing. She wanted to spit in his face. She wanted to punch him. But instead, she clenched her fist and counted to ten in her head.

“I hope you have a lovely night,” Alistair said, walking away from her. He stopped and turned back to say one last thing: “Also, I heard about the death of your son. My sincerest condolences.”

When Eve found TC and Geraldine, it took all her strength to hide the effect of Alistair’s words on her. She was pleased to find that the mother and son were having a good time. Sam eventually escaped Ivy’s clutches and found them. He looked like he’d just worked a 30-hour shift down at the station.

“Having fun?” teased TC.

“I don’t know how she does it!” he said, shaking his head. “I swear, we’ve talked to every single guest. Twice. And I’ve wanted to knock the eyeballs out of just about every guy who looks at her.”

“She looks fantastic in that dress, you can’t deny it,” said Eve.

“It’s not the dress they’re looking at.”

“It seems Miss Winthrop’s definitely in her element,” said Geraldine, ignoring the comment. “Who could have guessed someone so small could have such stamina.”

“Oh, I can attest to Ivy’s stamina,” Sam said, adding under his breath to TC: “I just didn’t know it extended beyond the bedroom.”

“I heard that, Samuel Jr.,” said Geraldine. “I have known you since your mother was putting baby powder on that bum of yours. I don’t need a mental image of it now that you’re a grown man!”

TC and Eve burst out laughing and Sam turned bright red.

Meanwhile, Ivy was walking back to the ballroom from the ladies room with her friend, Esmerelda.

“I’m not saying your boyfriend isn’t handsome,” Esmerelda said to an irritable Ivy. “I’m just asking if you _really_ want to spend your life washing the underwear and socks of your workaday husband, cooking and cleaning for him and little Samantha and Ivan?”

Ivy was not amused. She tried to deflect.

“We would never give our children such common names. Except maybe something classic like Ethan. What would you name _your_ little brats? Ebenezer? Esmerelda VI?”

“I’ll have you know that _my_ firstborn daughter will be named Esme. As for a son: who knows. I hope I only have girls.”

Ivy felt the opposite. ‘Ethan Crane,’ she thought, smiling. It had such a nice ring to it. Then she realized the mistake she’d make — Ethan _Bennett_ was what she’d meant. But it was too late, now her mind was wandering to thoughts of handsome Julian Crane fathering her son. Esmerelda was blathering away while Ivy scanned the room. Julian and Rebecca were the only attendees she had actively avoided while prancing around the mansion with Sam by her side.

“BECKS!” Esmerelda called suddenly. She waved Rebecca and Julian over to where they stood.

“Hi Rebecca,” Ivy said dutifully. She hadn’t seen the Osborne heiress since the Harmony fall fair in October.

“Hello Ivy,” Rebecca sniffed, primly. “Where’s your firefighter?”

Ivy blushed. “He’s not a firefighter.”

“Shoeshine boy? Chimney sweep?”

“Call off your dogs, Rebecca,” snapped Julian, angrily. He didn’t seem to be in the mood for chitchat with the ladies, however, Rebecca clearly had him on the same leash Ivy had been keeping Sam all evening. “How is your night going, Ivy?”

Ivy’s heart fluttered when he said her name.

“Oh, good too bad. I meant, not too good. I mean bad, not too _bad_.” Her face turned an even deeper crimson and she gulped back the last of her red wine in a hurry.

Esmerelda and Rebecca brayed with laughter. Julian smiled too, but because he seemed to find her stumble endearing.

“We could all use another round of drinks, wouldn’t you say Evie? I mean, Avey. I mean, Ivy,” said Esmerelda, flagging the attention of one of the wait staff. It was Pilar again. She was only carrying champagne so Rebecca sent her off to the kitchen to fetch some red and white wine. While she was gone, Esmerelda and Rebecca chatted and gossiped and said the most wicked things about their mutual (so-called) friends. As Ivy and Julian talked, she felt some of her normal confidence returning. Some of that also might have been the wine.

Pilar returned and filled their glasses.

“To the Cranes,” Ivy said by way of a toast. “Thanks for yet another great party, Julian.”

“Hear hear!” Rebecca chimed.

As Ivy raised her glass to her lips, she spilled some down the front of her dress.

Rebecca and Esmerelda burst into loud guffaws. “Oh no!” Ivy almost started crying at the sight of the red stain on her new blue dress.

“Julian, take her to the kitchen and get some club soda for that,” said Rebecca. “I seem to remember hearing that helps.”

Rebecca and Julian weren’t even engaged, and yet already she was acting like the grand dame of Raven Hill. Julian scowled at her, but seized on the opportunity to get away for a few minutes. He led Ivy through the mansion, past the main kitchen — which was bustling with chefs and staff — and to a smaller kitchen in the east wing. Anything to prolong his time away from Rebecca.

“I’m so sorry,” said Ivy. “I’ve made a total fool of myself.”

“Nonsense,” said Julian, smiling. “If I wore suits any colour but black, they’d be spotted from collar to ankle with stains.”

“You’re being charitable, but I’ll take it.”

The smaller kitchen was deserted. Julian rummaged through the fridge, eventually retrieving a bottle of club soda. He poured some onto a clean napkin and handed it to Ivy. When his hand touched hers, she felt warm again but not just in her face this time.

They talked as Ivy dabbed at the stain on her dress, inching closer to him until suddenly they were practically touching. Before Julian knew what was happening, Ivy was kissing him. He kissed her back, not thinking, but then stopped himself.

“What are we doing?” he shook his head and took a step away from her. “Your boyfriend is here. And my… my girlfriend, too. And she’s your friend.”

“I’ve been wanting to do that for a very long time, Julian,” Ivy said, which was true. In her mind, the kiss had been electric. Instant chemistry. She took his hand and put it on her breast and once again, he seemed powerless not to rub her, put his other hand on her back and draw her close, all the while the two of them kissing passionately.

“No, that shouldn’t have happened,” Julian said, stopping himself.

“Why not?”

“Because I’m in love with someone else.”

“So am I. Or at least I thought I was. Now I’m not so sure.”

“Well I am.”

“You’re not talking about Rebecca.”

Julian looked flustered for an instant. “What do you mean?”

“You still have feelings for Eve. I know it.”

“That’s not true.” But he couldn’t have been less convincing.

“Julian, I know our parents would love for us to get together, but I don’t care about that. I think we might genuinely be a good match. Unlike you and Eve.”

“Be quiet, Ivy,” he cautioned. It was almost like he sensed where she was going.

“Eve doesn’t want to be with you anymore,” Ivy said. She wasn’t trying to hurt him, to be a bitch. She was speaking honestly. “Eve is back with TC. And it’s not just a cover-up to keep your dad from finding out about you two.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“She told me herself. She’s serious about being with TC. She just hasn’t had the nerve to tell you yet.”

He thought about the way Eve had seemingly been avoiding him in recent weeks. He thought about how she had looked tonight from afar with TC and his mother. And about how she’d seemed at the beginning of the event, even before Rebecca was deliberately rude to her. She wasn’t sending any of the usual signals.

“I’m not trying to be an asshole,” Ivy said. “Eve is my best friend. I think that maybe she’s realized you guys are just too different. The same way I think that maybe me and Sam are too different. He and I are from different worlds. But the two of _us_?” She took his hand, hoping to continue kissing, but Julian backed away.

“I… I have to go,” he said, stupidly. And with that, he practically sprinted from the kitchen.

Ivy was left standing by the bottle of club soda. She took a deep breath and picked up the napkin and continued dabbing at the stain.

Tabitha cackled with delight and clinked martini glasses with Timmy. “Oh Tim Tim, I love it when they do it all by themselves!”

When Ivy returned to her group, Geraldine was deep in conversation with Edna Wallace. Chatter between Sam, Eve, and TC was animated. (Eve had managed to put Alistair’s awful words behind her for the time being.)

“There you are!” Sam said, putting his arm around Ivy. “We were missing you. Everything okay?”

“No. I mean, I’m fine, I just think I need some air,” she said, almost irritably.

“Why don’t we go outside and explore the grounds?” TC suggested. He was curious just how much would change — if at all — between now and 2001.

“Did you hear that, Tim Tim!” Tabitha clapped her hands excitedly. “This is where the fun _really_ begins!”


	22. Chapter 22

When Ivy suggested they explore the Crane’s hedge maze, they all agreed it would be fun. Eve and TC both thought about _The Shining_ , which had not yet even been _written_ let alone turned into a movie by Stanley Kubrick. Their 2001 experiences in the hedge maze seemed like a million years ago — that night TC had seen visions of his then-deceased father, as well as the false image of Julian Crane behind the wheel of the car that crippled him; Eve had been reminded of the night her son was kidnapped — and though the visions had been unsettling, the pair had quickly convinced themselves both had been the product of over-active imaginations. While other Harmony residents had experienced more sinister effects of the fog that night, TC and Eve were less impacted.

“And that,” Tabitha said, finishing her explanation to Timmy, “is why we’re seeing them toddle off to their doom inside the maze tonight.”

“Is Tabby sure this will work? Didn’t you say the magic fog is unpredictable?”

“Yes,” she conceded. “I’ll admit to being unable to control exactly how it works once it’s unleashed. But that’s why I’m also going to throw this into the mix: a little landscaping.”

She closed her eyes, mumbling an incantation. The lights overhead flickered briefly causing Timmy to jump. In the bowl he watched an aerial view of the maze as it began to contort and expand. The pathways changed on their own, forming and reforming, expanding eastward across more than two acres until it reached the edge of the cliffs, high above the rocky coastline. One of the maze’s pathways now led directly to the cliff. Tabitha snapped her finger, creating a sound barrier around the maze; no one on the outside would be able to hear anything inside, and vice versa.

“That way they won’t hear the sound of the ocean as they near the cliff,” Tabitha said, smiling excitedly. She had visions of the guests one by one falling like lemmings to their deaths. Timmy looked pale but said nothing. She opening a small glass vial and dumped its contents into her bowl. “Here we go, Tim Tim!”

“Timmy’s too scared to even watch,” he said, attempting to hop off the countertop.

“Nonsense,” Tabitha said, preventing him from leaving. “No doll of _mine_ is going to flinch at the sight of blood. You stay put and I’ll fix us another couple of drinks.”

“Can the fog actually kill people?” Timmy was imagining a thick white tendril of fog wrapping around his throat and strangling him.

Tabitha paused to consider this. “Yes and no. I mean, not in the literal sense that you mean. It’s not like a poison gas. However, it can cause car accidents. It can cause people to not see where they’re walking, for example.”

“So… it’s just like regular fog. Doesn’t sound very magical…”

“It can also cause people to see their worst fears come true. It can manipulate people into committing murder. It can cause others to go insane and take their own lives. The fog is evil, there’s no doubt about that, but it’s also capricious. It can also give people what they want. It can show people the truth they seek. Or it can lie to them and show them what will be most devastating.”

Timmy looked out the kitchen window and hoped the fog would be limited to just the Crane Estate.

At that moment, it was rolling in off the ocean, thick and white and slow as molasses. It spread slowly over the maze, settling there thickest of all.

It wasn’t long before Ivy and Sam were separated from TC and Eve. And soon enough each of the couple were split up too. One moment Eve was following TC around a bend in the maze, the next she was up against a dead end. No TC.

“How is this possible?” she puzzled, shivering. She called out for TC but there was no answer. Only then did she notice the fog had truly thickened around her. “TC??” she shouted again, but no one could hear her.

x

Noah Griswold was driving up the coast highway. Soon he’d passing Harmony. He turned the music up louder on the radio, as if it could drown out his thoughts of Sam. That was when the fog began to form in front of his headlights. Before long he couldn’t see more than five feet ahead.

“There’s no way I can drive in this,” he said, pulling over onto the shoulder. It was like being inside a cloud. “I’ll just have to wait until it clears up.”

He stepped out of his car for some fresh air and to stretch his legs. He wished he was in town or at a gas station. At least then he could use a pay phone to call his sister and tell her he was going to be late. Noah thought he could hear the sound of waves and started walking gingerly towards them before deciding it was too foggy for even that. He didn’t want to risk taking a fall. However, when he turned back, all he could see was white.

“Oh great,” he muttered. He extended his hands out in front of him, walking slowly, preparing to touch the side of his car. He’d just get back inside and wait out the fog in there, lest he end up getting totally lost. But much to his surprise, instead of touching the sleek red surface of his Oldsmobile 442, Noah’s hands plunged into the leaves and brambles of a 12-foot-high hedge.

“Where am I??”

x

“Why don’t you go and freshen our drinks, Pookie?” said Rebecca.

Julian wasn’t listening. His mind was elsewhere. Ivy’s comments about Eve couldn’t be true. Could they?

“Julian!!!” said Rebecca. Esmerelda was grinning. “I said we need more wine, and I haven’t seen that little tacocita waitress for hours.”

“I’m sorry,” he said, absently. “What are you drinking, Eve?”

“Eve?!” Rebecca was truly seeing red now. “Now why would you have that… that… commoner on your mind??” She swatted at him angrily with a gloved hand. It wasn’t just that Rebecca had seen the way Julian looked at Eve earlier in the evening, or how his eyes had followed her around the ball room at various times. It was the fact that this wasn’t the first time she had heard him utter that name. On more than one occasion she’d heard him mumble it in his sleep. Rebecca did her best to ignore it, just assumed it was some recurring erotic dream, maybe the name of a stripper he’d seen once. But since discovering Eve was in fact a real person, Rebecca had been livid.

“I’m sorry Rebecca,” he said, not meaning it. “It was a slip of the tongue.”

“I know where you’d love to slip your tongue right about now. Down that doctor-wannabe’s throat.”

Esmerelda giggled. Julian scowled at her.

“I’ll be back in a moment with your drink. Arsenic on the rocks, is it?”

Rebecca rolled her eyes. “Red wine. You’re in a lot of trouble, mister.”

“White wine for me!” called Esmerelda.

Instead of heading to one of the bars, Julian walked through the crowd to the exit. He saw Mrs. Russell and Mrs. Wallace chatting and waved to them. The former frowned, the latter got an almost seductive glint in her eye.

“Excuse me ladies, I was wondering if you saw where Eve and the others went?”

Before Geraldine could pretend not to know, Edna blurted out: “Into the hedge maze, young Crane!” Then she laughed loudly, as though she’d made a joke.

“Thanks!” said Julian, hurrying out the door and in that direction. Listening to Rebecca had been the final straw for Julian. He needed to talk to Eve and confirm they were, in fact, still a couple. He didn’t care if word got back to Alistair, the thought of spending one more second with Rebecca Osborne by his side made him sick to his stomach.

“Oh thanks, Edna,” Geraldine said irritably.

“What? What I do?”

“If Julian goes in there and finds them, I just know there will be trouble,” said Geraldine. “He _hates_ Julian with a passion. Maybe if I get to TC first, I can stop things from getting out of hand.”

“Sorry ‘bout that Gerri! A handsome man asks me a question and I’m powerless,” said Edna.

Geraldine left it at that, following Julian across the main lawn and in through the entrance of the maze. It was almost completely obscured by the fog, except for an ornate hanging lantern over its archway.

x

Crystal closed the file folder and stood up from the desk in Alistair’s study. She had come in to retrieve some papers for one of Alistair’s business associate’s earlier in the evening and noticed a file on his desk, conspicuously labelled: **Julian-Eve bastard**. After she’d finished her errand for Alistair, she hurried back to read the contents of that file. She knew better than to snoop behind Alistair’s back. Getting caught could have disastrous consequences. But the thought that not only might Alistair know what happened to Eve’s son but also have something to do with the infant’s death was more than Crystal could ignore.

When she finished reading her eyes were wide. The boy wasn’t dead after all. She needed to find Eve and get this information to her. As luck would have it, Crystal looked out the window just in time to see Julian disappearing into the hedge maze. There was a heavy mist spreading over the grounds.

‘If I can get outside, no one will notice me in the fog,’ she thought. Alistair was surely preoccupied with his guests.

She ran from his study and down the hall. There was an old servants’ stairwell she could sneak down to avoid the gala. Before long she was darting across the dewy lawn towards the glowing light that marked the entrance to the maze. Clutched under her arm: the whereabouts of Vincent Clarkson…

x

“Eve!” TC hollered. One minute she had been right behind him, the next he was alone. He felt like he was walking in circles. Every pathway looked the same. “Ivy? Sam?”

The silence was deafening.

He rounded a corner and continued in a straight line until he found himself in a clearing. There was a small stone bench and a number of somewhere crude stone sculptures and statues around the perimeter. Most were human shapes although there were animals too. TC wondered if perhaps he’d reached the centre of the maze.

‘If I just wait here, someone else is bound to arrive,’ he thought.

He was going to approach the bench and have a seat, but he found his legs refused to move. His brow crinkled in confusion. It was almost as though he’d stepped in cement. He looked down and to his surprise — he had! Or at least that’s when he thought upon first glance. His normally black dress shoes were grey. But then again, so were the bottoms of his pants near the ankles. In fact, the grey discoloration was slowly climbing up his legs. There was tingling sensation that moved with it, pins-and-needles. He reached down to touch them and recoiled in horror.

“What’s happening to me?” he said in horror. Soon he was completely paralyzed from the waist down. The effect did not stop there. He touched his shirtfront and it was solid rock. He knew what was happening. It didn’t make any sense, but he knew what was happening. Maybe Tabitha Lenox had cursed him and Eve for forcing their way into her house that.

“HELP!” he screamed. “HELP! SOMEBODY! PLEASE!”

But it was no use. Soon his arms had turned to stoned, then his throat. Finally the transformation was complete. He looked like just the latest addition to the clearing’s grotesque statuary.

Watching from her kitchen, Tabitha tittered with delight. Timmy was frightened.

“Tabby said the fog couldn’t kill people,” he said with dismay. “If it can do th-th-that to TC, then it could get us too!”

“You’re wrongly assuming TC is dead,” she said. Without elaborating, she sprinkled some dust into her bowl and waited for the image to change. “Now what have we here…” Then she gasped.

“What is it? What is it??”

In the bowl they could see the image of a door in one of the hedges. It looked like the front door of a house. Tabitha scowled. She did not like this.

“Remember how I told you the fog will sometimes give people what they want? Well that door is Eve’s golden ticket out of our world.”

“Timmy doesn’t follow.”

“He seldom does,” she said, irritably. “If Eve finds that door, she’s going to be able to walk right out of here, back into the year 2003 — or, rather, I suppose it’s 2004 by down over there. All her prayers will be answered.”

Tabitha was not happy about that. However, the more she thought about it, the more it pleased her to think that Eve would be disappearing without any warning, abandoning her little sister once again, not to mention her friends Ivy and Sam. And, of course, both Julian and TC. “Eve won’t even get a chance to say goodbye her _statuesque_ husband-to-be,” she said, smiling at her own cleverness. “Oh I knew this night was going to be a _gas_ , Tim Tim! The fog never disappoints.”

“Timmy would rather be at a real comedy club,” he mumbled to himself. “Anywhere but here…”


	23. Chapter 23

“Sam, please, answer me!” Ivy called, almost in tears. She was getting frightened. “This was a stupid idea. We should have stayed indoors where it was warm and there was alcohol.” And eye candy… (Julian Crane was still on her mind, despite turning her down in the kitchen. It was almost like the rejection — no one rejects Ivy Winthrop! — made her want him even more.)

Ivy called the names of all her friends, but it was no use. No one responded.

What Ivy didn’t realize is that just on the other side of the hedge wall was Sam. The magic fog was keeping them from hearing each other.

“Ivy!” Sam shouted.

Where the hell had everyone gone? He wondered if maybe they were playing a trick on him, but doubted it. As soon as he’d lost track of Ivy, he retraced his steps, only to find a dead end. He ventured out again from that point, making a mental of note of when he turned left and when he turned — he pretended he was following the path of a criminal, eliminating options as he went. But each time, he was confounded by a fork where the path should have been straight, or a left where there should have been a right.

“It’s the fog, that’s what’s screwing me up. On a clear night I would have found them by now.”

He stopped and strained to listen. Heavy footsteps. He rushed in their direction. “TC??”

Sam emerged from a particularly thick cloud of fog and found himself in an opening. There was a tree in the middle, which looked out of place. It was almost as though the maze had grown up around it..

“Sam?”

He wasn’t alone. A man stepped out of the mist.

“Noah?? What are you doing here?”

The other man was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt with a light spring jacket. He clearly was not a guest at the gala.

“I have no idea. I don’t even know where ‘here’ is.”

Sam explained they were at the Crane estate. Obviously, he was suspicious of Noah’s story. Noah, like Sam, had a cop’s mind and did not believe in the supernatural. But he was at a loss for how to explain his appearance in the maze.

“You’re sure you didn’t come looking for me,” Sam said.

“I swear Sam. You made it perfectly clear when you told me to get lost back in September.”

Sam felt a lump form in his throat. He hated the memory of that night. How cold-hearted he’d been towards his old lover. He hadn’t been lying about his love for Ivy, but it was wrong of him to pretend he also hadn’t had more than just a sexual connection with Noah when they were at the police academy.

“I’m sorry about what I said,” Sam said. “That wasn’t true.”

“It’s okay,” said Noah, even though that wasn’t really how he felt. He shuffled awkwardly. Neither man had the vocabulary to explain their feelings.

“I wish things were different,” Sam said. “But I’m not a queer. I don’t have anything against them — against you — but it’s just not who I am. I want to be with my girlfriend. I want to marry her and have a family.”

“Sam, did you ever consider that maybe it’s possible to want both. Have you ever heard the term ‘bisexuality’?”

He hadn’t but he could figure out what it meant. The word made him uncomfortable. Almost as uncomfortable as the feeling he had seeing Noah. He wanted to reach out and touch him.

At that moment, Ivy entered the clearing. She saw Sam and a man she didn’t recognize and opened her mouth to call to them but she stopped herself when she watched Sam reach out and put a hand on the stranger’s shoulder. The fog obscured Ivy from their sight. She crept closer, hiding behind the tree, watching and listening.

“No one will ever be able to take away what we had, Noah,” he said. Sam thought about how the other guys had bullied Noah in the early weeks of training — it was almost like they’d perceived something about him was different, even if he wasn’t outwardly effeminate or showed any ‘signs’ he might be gay. Sam had stood up for Noah, made the other guys — all very macho and preoccupied with showing off their manliness — back off. Their friendship grew from there until the night Noah first climbed into Sam’s bunk.

Noah took Sam’s hand from his shoulder and held it. Both of their hearts were beating quickly. “I can’t give you children, I can’t offer you marriage, but Sam.. we could have something just as special. It would be unique. Like our love.”

Sam didn’t recoil at the word, even though it had never been spoken by either man. Slowly, deliberately, Noah moved closer to Sam, giving him ample opportunity to pull away. Sam did not. Instead, they kissed.

x

Eve didn’t like this situation one bit. It all had a déjà vu quality. There had been a strange mist the last time she’d been in the maze, and there had been so much dramatic fallout from that night. Grace had walked in on a kiss between Sam and Ivy that nearly broke them up as a couple…

She thought about her role in Ivy’s deception with David Hastings. If Eve could see Grace again, she wouldn’t waste one second in telling her the truth, even though it would mean revealing her complicity in the scheme and surely destroying their friendship.

That was when Eve noticed a door in the hedge up ahead. It looked so peculiar. And strangely familiar. It actually looked like the front door of Grace’s B&B. She approached it almost timidly. Were her eyes playing tricks on her? She reached out and touched its. It certainly felt real. She stood on tiptoes in order to peer through the small window at the top of the door but she couldn’t quite reach. She tried jumping up, and she caught a glimpse of a front hallway on the other side that actually looked like Grace’s front hall. She must be imagining _that_.

Eve put a hand on the door knob and was about to turn it when she heard a voice calling her name. She turned around. It was Crystal.

“Crystal?” Eve walked in the direction of the voice.

“Eve, where are you? I’m lost.”

‘Join the club,’ Eve thought. But instead she continued to shout Crystal’s name until they found each other. They embraced as if it had been years, not hours, since they last saw each other.

“It’s so weird,” Crystal said. “I’ve walked through this maze countless times since I moved in and starting working for Alistair. But tonight I got all turned around right away.”

“It has to be the fog,” said Eve. “I lost TC and the others. I was just about to go through that door back there when I heard your voice. Want to check it out with me?”

“What door?”

Eve took her by the hand and led her back in the direction she’d come. But instead of finding the door, they wound up in a clearing. There was a stone bench in the centre and statues all around the perimeter like spooky sentinels in the mist.

“That’s so strange, this wasn’t here before,” Eve said.

“We’re in the centre of the maze,” Crystal explained. Eve might have explored the area and noticed one of the statues bore a striking resemblance to her husband, if not for what Crystal said next: “But Eve, I have something important to share with you. It’s about your son.”

Eve’s eyes widened.

“Eve? Crystal?”

The women started. For a moment Crystal was convinced that Alistair had come looking for her. But no, it was his son. The mist had initially made Julian look like the Crane patriarch. He went to Eve and kissed her. Without thinking, she returned the kiss. She was so excited, she couldn’t suppress her emotion.

“Julian, Crystal says she’s got information about our son!”

“What is it?” he asked, amazed. He and Eve squeezed each other’s hands tightly.

Crystal held up the file folder. “It’s all here,” she said. “I found this in Alistair’s study tonight. It was the first I learned of it. I swear to you both, if I had known about this I would have told you right away.”

“Of course,” Eve said. “So what is it?” Julian took the file and began looking through its contents while Crystal spoke.

“Alistair was responsible for kidnaping your little boy. Every detail from planning to execution is laid out in his files, including information about procurement of the dead baby they replaced your son with. He also has information about the foster family your child ended up with. It does not sound like they’re good parents — which was part of the selection criteria that Alistair personally oversaw.”

“Where is he???”

“California. A small town outside of LA.”

Julian was shaking his head in disbelief looking at the papers. “I knew my father was sick, but this… This is unbelievable, even for him.”

“If there’s anything I can do to help from the inside, please let me know,” Crystal said. Now that she had handed off the file, she was getting antsy.

“You’ve already done so much,” said Eve. “Will Alistair suspect it was you who took the file?”

Crystal shook her head and smiled. “I can be very, very persuasive,” she said, and gave Eve a wink. “But for now I need to get back to the mansion, before he notices I’m gone.”

She and Eve hugged. “Keep me posted,” Crystal said, and Eve nodded. Then she was gone, back into the mist.

x

“What do you mean you haven’t seen him??”

“It’s like I said, Miss Osborne, the last time I saw Julian was —”

“Enough!” Rebecca waved her hand dismissively at Pilar. “When I do track him down, I’ll be sure to report to him that his staff is doing a _terrible_ job tonight. And when I’m Mrs. Rebecca Crane, you can bet there will be some turnover.

Before Pilar could say anything else, the uppity socialite had stormed off.

Rebecca surveyed the room, scowling. She’d asked Esmerelda to keep an eye out for Julian, but so far the other woman had nothing to report.

“Lost something?” asked Edna, sidling up beside Rebecca. The smell of rum was heavy in Edna’s breath.

“My man,” she replied angrily.

“Julian Crane, right?”

“Yes!! Where did he go?”

“Into the maze,” said Edna. “I was just about to step out for a bit of fresh air. I could help you look for him.”

But Rebecca brushed her off. “You’d only slow me down, alchy.

Edna steadied herself as she watched Rebecca speed off. ‘Maybe some fresh air really would do me some good,’ she thought. Edna took a final swig of her drink and then headed towards the exit, too.

x

Geraldine moved cautiously and deliberately through the maze. If she had been born at a different time, perhaps she might have been a cop like Sam. She had the same methodical mind. She used it to keep track of her location and the route back to start of the labyrinth. Had she turned back and tried to make her way to the starting point, Geraldine would have realized that something was off. That the walls of dense hedge were changing shape continually, cutting off established paths and creating new ones.

She was surprised to not have run into anyone yet. She wanted to call out her son’s name but the thought of breaking the eerie silence all around her frightened her in a way she couldn’t quite articulate.

She was no less unsettled by the sight of a door up ahead in the mist. ‘How peculiar,’ she thought. It looked like the front door of a house. Except it was embedded in the hedge. She clasped the doorknob and paused. Her instincts couldn’t make up their minds between turning the knob and running in the opposite direction. In the end, she went ahead with the former.

A rush of warm air greeted Geraldine as she opened the door and peered through. She was surprised by the sight that met her on the other side. It was the interior of a house. Geraldine’s curiosity obliterated any fear or trepidation. She stepped into the front hallway. It looked like a family home, quaint and cozy, not the sort of place one would expect to find on the Crane estate.

Geraldine quietly shut the door behind her and came further into the house. It all seemed very pleasant, although she began to notice some strange details. The style of the furniture, the colour schemes and patterns, and even the light fixtures all looked totally foreign to her. She had never seen anything like them, not even in magazines. She was in the living room. One of the strangest aspects was the television set. It was so large and sleek, with a plastic frame as opposed to wood.

But the most eye-catching sight was atop the fireplace on the mantle. It took Geraldine’s breath away.

“It can’t be… How is this possible?”

She was looking at a framed photograph of two families, one Caucasian, one African-American. There were nine people featured, two of whom Geraldine recognized instantly. Eve and TC. Except… they were so much older. They were probably Geraldine’s age, and they stood smiling behind two beautiful young woman.

Geraldine held the picture in her hands. She took a closer look at it. They were TC and Eve. It was undeniable. Geraldine looked around the empty room. She wondered if this was some sort of hoax? That didn’t make any sense though.

She was fascinated by the look of her son — a grown man, a little bit stocky with a goatee. But even more captivating for her were the two young women, one with curly hair and the other with wavy hair that fell past her shoulders. Who were these girls?

“Can I help you?”

Geraldine spun around with a gasp. She’d been so absorbed in the photo she hadn’t heard the other woman approach. To her equal surprise, the woman who stood before her was also featured in the family photograph. She was slim, had short red hair, and a warm presence.

“I…”

“Was it you who called ahead about a room?”

“A room?”

The redheaded woman smiled. “It’s alright if you didn’t. We take walk-ins. Although… You don’t look like our usual walk-ins,” she said, indicating Geraldine’s formal attire.

“What do you mean?”

“This is a bed and breakfast,” she explained. Grace approached her, gently taking the photograph from her hands. “I love this picture. It’s a couple years old now. I wish we could take an updated version.” There was a tremendous sadness in her voice when she said this. But she shook off whatever thoughts were plaguing her. “I’m Grace Hastings,” she said, extending a hand to Geraldine.

The other woman was so confused she didn’t return the gesture. “There is a bed and breakfast.. on the Crane estate?”

Now Grace was the one to look confused. “This isn’t the Crane estate. This is Oak Street, on the other side of Harmony.”

Geraldine was insistent. She explained that she was at the annual gala hosted by Alistair Crane and that she’d gone into the labyrinth to look for her son and his girlfriend, only to stumble upon a door that brought her here.

Grace invited her to have a seat. She went and retrieved a glass of water for her ‘guest’ and tried to explain that she must be mistaken. “The Cranes haven’t held their gala in many years. And I can assure, I don’t live in a hedge maze. Plus Alistair Crane has been missing for almost a year and is presumed dead.”

“How … How can this be?” And then Geraldine asked Grace a question that made her face go white: “Did TC or Eve come through here tonight?”

When she had recovered from the shock, Grace held up the frame photograph and pointed to her missing friends: “You mean these two?”

“I mean, they certainly look like Eve and TC, except… older.”

Grace immediately thought back to the night last fall when she’d managed to find Eve, to slip through time in that parking lot and see her best friend as a young woman again. It had been such a visceral experience. And now here was this stranger turning up in her living room who seemed to know Eve and TC, but only as young people.

“I didn’t get your name,” said Grace.

“I’m Geraldine Russell. TC is my son.”

x

“Eve, what’s wrong?” said Julian. He had tried to pull Eve close to him for another kiss but she rebuffed him. They were still in the clearing with the statues and the stone bench. He was still feeling jubilant; they finally knew where they could find their son and they had irrefutable proof of Alistair’s deception. However, Eve’s joy had faded rapidly. She was becoming distant and depressive.

“Julian, I need to be honest with you.”

He felt a pit in stomach.

“I have known you and loved for so long, and in such a deep way, this is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to say.”

Her eyes were glassy with tears. She took a few breaths to steady her nerves. She wished he had a drink right now. She thought about the way he had courted her, respected her, been vulnerable with her and had allowed her to lower her guard for the first time. Yes, they’d had their halcyon days, the drugs and the booze and the crazy parties, the reckless behaviour, the carefree attitudes, but throughout it all they’d been a team.

“I will always love you, but there’s someone else I love and who I want to be with. And that’s TC.”

Julian thought about what Ivy had told him in the kitchen earlier that night. _“Eve doesn’t want to be with you anymore. Eve is back with TC. And it’s not just a cover-up to keep your dad from finding out about you two.”_ He winced at the memory as though it pained him physically.

“I will always cherish the memories of our life together, but my future is with TC.”

“You only just met the man! You can’t possibly be serious. Your whole relationship is predicated on a lie. You were only with him so that my father would stop his efforts to break us up. You were only going to be with TC long enough for us to find out son. _Our son_. Who we can now finally be with and raise. We can be the family we were meant to be, and there’s nothing Alistair can do to stop us.”

Eve shook her head sadly.

“TC and I, we’re… Think of us as lovers from a past life. We have a relationship that transcends time and space. A history that’s too complicated for me to explain to you now.”

“Try me.”

“No Julian. I will help you get our son, I will finally hold him again after all these years.” (Julian noticed this odd phrase. It had only been a year since their son was born.) “But after that, after he’s back with you safely in Harmony, I’m going to be leaving. With TC.”

“Eve, you can’t mean this.”

“I can and I do.”

“Is this out of some sense of guilt? Of moral obligation because of that night when you smashed into him with my car and ruined his tennis career?”

“It has nothing to do with that,” said Eve. The memory and the guilt of that incident were searing.

“I refuse to accept this,” said Julian. “We’ll go to LA soon with the Crane private jet. And when we get our son back, when we’re whole again, I know you’ll change your mind.”

He kissed her on the forehead. She was speechless.

“You’ll see. I’ll call you tomorrow and we’ll make our plan to go there.”

Before she could find the words to continue her objections, he turned and walked away into the mist.

Eve sat back down on the bench and cried. She wasn’t sure how long she’d been weeping like that when she felt someone’s eyes on her.

“Who’s there?” she called out into the mist.

Silence. But she could see something in the foggy twilight. She moved towards it and then let out a scream. One of the statues looked exactly like TC, and from its stone eyes rolled big fat teardrops.

x

“Sam Bennett…” Ivy said, stepping out from behind the tree. Sam and Noah were so caught off guard that they pulled away from each other instantaneously. “How could you?”

“Ivy.. I.. Please, this is not what it looks like.”

“All this time we were together, you were secretly… You’re actually…”

“No! Ivy, you’ve got to believe me. I’m not like that. I’m not…” He couldn’t even bring himself to say the word. But he didn’t have to.

“You’re telling me I should believe you instead of my own two eyes?”

“No, this was a mistake, that’s all.”

It hurt Noah to hear that, but he kept his mouth shut.

“I heard everything, Sam. I know that you guys were butt-buddies while you were at the police academy. I know that this… this… _pervert_ wants to start a life with you. And clearly you do too.”

“No, Ivy, I don’t. I want _you_. You’re the one I love. Not Noah.”

Noah summoned all his willpower and said: “It’s true, Ivy. You’re the one Sam wants, not me. I wish it was the other way around, but it’s not. He’s made that clear to me again and again.”

Ivy was crying. She shook her head and then glared at them both, hate in her eyes.

“Fuck you, Sam Bennett. I never want to see you again.” And with that she turned and fled into the mist.

“Ivy, wait!”

Sam hesitated.

“Go,” said Noah. “Just.. go.”

Sam did not pull him into one final kiss. Instead he ran off in the direction Ivy had gone. He did not look back before being swallowed completely by the fog.

x

Julian hastened to return to the mansion. He wanted to get back to his own private quarters and lock the papers about Vincent in his personal safe. He would make multiple copies of them tomorrow. For now he was just anxious to get out of the maze and back to the gala before his father noticed his absence and became suspicious.

He was thinking about Crystal, and similarly hoping she was able to get back to party in time, when he rounded a corner and plowed headlong into someone coming from the opposite direction. They both fell backwards onto the ground.

“I’m so sorry,” he said. The file slipped from his hands during the fall and papers had spilled out all over path.

“Pookie! There you are! I was beginning to worry I would never find you. Or find my way out of here!” Rebecca had apparently forgotten her anger, at least for the time being.

Julian was immediately irritated to have encountered her of all people. He grunted some form of a hello, busying himself with the papers that were scattered around them. He was so worried about losing a single page. In particular, the documents that included Vincent’s specific whereabouts.

“What’s this?”

He looked up to see Rebecca reading one of the pages. He snatched it away from her.

“Nothing,” he said angrily.

“It didn’t look like nothing to me,” she said. “Julian Crane and Eve Johnson — Ex-lovers? Fine, whatever, we can all enjoy a little romp in the gutter from time to time. But parents to a _love child_?” She seemed to savour the words. “No wonder you were looking at her that way.”

“I don’t know what you think you saw, Rebecca, but you’re mistaken.” He did a final look around the ground to make sure he hadn’t missed any pages. “I am glad you found me though.”

“Oh?” She smiled and leaned in, expecting a kiss. Instead he laughed in her face.

“You fool,” he said. “I’m through with… _this_. Whatever it is we’ve been doing this past year. I’m finished. The party’s over.”

“What?!!” she roared. “The party isn’t over until I say it’s over!” But Julian just laughed at her again.

“Oh Rebecca, when will you learn that tantrums get you nowhere?”

“They’ve gotten me this far.”

“No, that would be your last name. And your mummy and daddy’s bank account. You should have stayed with Jonathan Hotchkiss. You two were made for each other. But not us.”

Rebecca narrowed her eyes at him.

“You really think you can just dump me? You think that I will allow myself to be humiliated in such a way? Or that I’d be willing to give up all this—” (She made a gesture that suggested the hedge maze and the entire estate surrounding it were already hers.) “—just because you’ve had a bizarre change of heart and suddenly want to be with your ex?”

“This isn’t a change of heart, Rebecca. I never stopped loving Eve. I’m truly sorry for leading you on all this time.”

“That’s right: you will be sorry, Julian. I have a sneaking suspicion that your father won’t be too pleased when he hears about what you’re planning. It would truly complicate things for you and Miss Eve if he was to find out. Especially on a night like tonight, when I know he’s had a few drinks.”

“You wouldn’t.”

“Try me,” she said with a smile. “See you back at the mansion, Pookie.” And with that, she was gone.

Julian felt deeply uneasy. He triple checked that he still had all the papers from Vincent’s file, and then called out: “Rebecca! Hey, Rebecca wait up!”

x

Grace and Geraldine talked in the kitchen over a cup of tea. There were so many strange technological gadgets in there, all foreign to Geraldine, it wasn’t hard for Grace to convince her that it really was the year 2004 and that somehow Geraldine had been transported there from the hedge maze in 1969. Grace told her about the disappearance of Eve and TC last July, she shared the history of the couple and their family and the friendship with the Bennetts. She told Geraldine about Whitney and Simone, which brought tears to her eyes.

“My… granddaughters…” she said in disbelief. “And they’ve been without their parents all this time. Thinking the worse. Thinking they died or ran away.”

Grace nodded grimly. “I’ve only told Sam and my niece, Charity. I tried to convince my daughter Kay, and Sam’s… partner, Ivy, but I just ended up sounding like a crazy person.”

“Ivy Winthrop?”

“That’s right.”

“She and Sam never married then?”

“No. You remember when they were dating?”

“Well yes, they’re still dating. They came together to the Crane gala tonight.”

The thought of Sam and Ivy, living out a happy life together in an alternate dimension, somehow stung just as much as the thought of them living their new happy life together across town. It made Grace feel foolish for all the years she thought she and Sam were soulmates.

Geraldine didn’t notice. She was fixed on the photo of Whitney and Simone.

“And these girls are where?”

“Whitney is engaged to Fox Crane and currently living with him in a house across town. They were in LA until early in the new year when they and their friends all moved back to Harmony. And Simone is still living in the house that TC and Eve were in the night they disappeared. She’s very good friends with my daughters. In fact, she’s out with Jessica right now at a party.”

“They need their parents back.”

“We all need them back,” said Grace, taking Geraldine’s hand.

It was especially surreal for Grace to be meeting TC’s mother like this because she already _had_ met Geraldine in this world. She’d known her as Mrs. Russell, and they’d been at countless Bennett-Russell family gatherings together. Grace had also attended Mrs. Russell’s funeral in the early 90s… And yet here she was, alive again and of an age comparable to Grace. She hadn’t recognized her initially, but once the connection had been made it was like visiting with a ghost.

“And it seems now we can finally make that happen,” said Geraldine, standing up. “I can’t explain why or how or for how long, but your front door is the link between our worlds. TC and Eve are both on the other side of it, at the Crane estate. I can go and get them right now.”

“Yes!” Grace stood up excitedly.

“Mom?”

Both women turned to see Jessica entering the kitchen through the back porch.

“Hi honey,” said Grace. “I wasn’t expecting you to stop by. And so late.”

“I didn’t think you’d be up,” Jessica said. Then she smiled at Geraldine. “Hi. Sorry to interrupt.”

That was when Simone entered from behind Jessica. She greeted both women with a wave. “Sorry to bother you Mrs. Ben— Mrs. Hastings. Jess and I were about to leave the party when I realized I left my house keys in Reese’s car. He left early and we haven’t been able to track him down.”

“I thought maybe she could just stay here at the B&B for the night. Assuming you have any spare bedrooms?”

Grace was a little dumbstruck, seeing Geraldine and Simone in the same room like this. Clearly Simone didn’t recognize her grandmother from when she was still living or from family photographs.

Finally Grace spoke. “Of course, Simone. I would love to have you.”

“Simone. What a lovely name. Oh child, I am so happy to get to see you again.” Geraldine went to her and hugged her. Both Simone and Jessica looked totally perplexed. Even Grace wasn’t sure what to say next.

“This is Mrs…”

“Russell. I’m a distant relative on your father’s side. Third cousins. Once or twice removed. My name’s Gerrie.”

Simone’s eyes widened and became watery. “My father—”

“I know, dear. I came to Harmony when I heard the news. I needed to see you and make sure you and your sister were okay.”

They held hands. Simone felt such a powerful connection to this stranger. It was a blessing to learn there was family out there, that she and Whitney weren’t adrift in the world with no blood relatives left.

“I feel like there’s so much for us to catch up on,” said Simone. “My dad never even mentioned a cousin Gerrie. He never really talked about family too much at all after my grandmother died. Maybe it was too painful for him.”

Grace offered to make some tea for the girls and they agreed, taking a seat at the kitchen table. However, Geraldine didn’t sit down.

“I will be back shortly with a surprise. You stay right here Simone.”

With Grace, she walked to the front hallway. “I’m going back for Eve and TC right now, okay?” she said in a hushed voice. “I don’t know how we’re going to explain any of this.”

“Neither do I, but we’ll find a way,” said Grace. “So long as Simone and Whitney get their parents back, nothing else matters.”

Geraldine nodded in agreement. She opened the front door and sure enough, instead of the B&B’s front yard there was the misty corridor of the hedge maze in front of them.

“Amazing,” said Grace in an awed whisper.

“Best keep the door open,” said Geraldine. “It may take me a few minutes to find TC and Eve, but I’ll be back with them as soon as possible.”

“Good luck!” The excitement was building inside Grace. She was ecstatic. This supernatural saga that had played out since the earthquake last July was finally going to be resolved.

Geraldine stepped back into the maze and looked left and right. Grace stood watching from her house, she held the door open. The mist from the maze was so thick it was even starting to cross the threshold of the B&B.

Suddenly, as if an invisible hand had taken hold of it, the door was wrenched from Grace’s grip and slammed shut before she could even realize what was happening. The sound was so loud it caused Geraldine to jump. She turned around and was horrified to find nothing behind her but a hedge wall. The door had vanished.


	24. Chapter 24

Geraldine ran through the mist, calling out for TC and Eve. All she could think about was Simone, her future granddaughter, abandoned yet again. She couldn’t see more than a foot in front of her, and yet she didn’t care. She didn’t slow down. She kept running.

x

Crystal felt as though she’d been running for hours. It couldn’t have been more than twenty minutes, could it? She should have been out of the maze by now. None of it made any sense. She _knew_ this maze. She’d timed herself on multiple occasions in the past. Until tonight, she would have boasted that she could find her way out blindfolded.

x

Ivy sobbed as she ran. When a wall of greenery would appear in front of her through the fog, she would cry out and then turn in either direction. She was so shocked and confused that she wasn’t thinking strategically. She just ran and ran, hoping to put as much distance between herself and Sam as she could.

x

“Ivy! Ivy come back!” Sam’s heart was beating in his throat. He was so scared of what Ivy had witnessed, so scared that he would lose her, so scared of who she might tell. He needed to catch up with her. He could talk to her, make her see that it had been an error in judgement on his part but that she was still the woman of his dreams. “Ivy, where are you??”

x

Rebecca _never_ ran. But something tonight drove her to. It was mostly malice, a desire to make Julian pay for what he’d done by exposing him to Alistair. But there was something else, too; something instinctual that told her lizard brain: _Get out of this maze. NOW._ So she ran. She even took off her heels to make it easier. ‘I’ll put them back on when I get out,’ she thought. ‘No one will know I was running around like a flower child.’ But her feet were very muddy already.

x

Julian was in hot pursuit. He could hear Rebecca running ahead of him. He shouted her name but she never responded. He paused to catch his breath, afraid of losing her but also afraid of dropping the file he clutched in his hand. “Rebecca, please,” he said. There was still no word back from her, and yet something told Julian she was just ahead, shrouded in the mist. He mustered his strength and ran on.

x

Eve felt as though she had lost her mind. She fled the centre of the maze, the crying statue of TC, the site of her true and definite break with Julian. She ran through the mist, not thinking of her son, not thinking of the strange door from earlier, not thinking of anything except her desire to get out of the maze. She wasn’t sure that even then she would be ready to stop running.

x

“Here we go, Tim Tim!! The moment we’ve all been waiting for!”

“Timmy’s going to be sick.” His white-gloved hands covered both eyes.

x

“Hallooo??” Edna called out. She hadn’t made it to the maze before getting lost. She wandered through the white nothingness calling out for help. Suddenly she bumped into something. A white fence. She listened carefully to the sound of waves crashing and realized she was at the edge of a cliff. “Ho boy, that was a close one.”

And then she heard the scream. It seemed to go on forever, ending with a sickening, broke-shattered thud.

Edna clutched the fence. Her legs felt weak. “Help…” she said, her voice barely more than a whisper.


	25. Chapter 25

Eve and TC both attend the funeral. Separately. Julian is there, of course, and so is Ivy. No one else from the maze that night is at the service or the burial afterwards. Unless you count Rebecca.

The discovery of her body at the bottom of the cliff sent shockwaves through Harmony. There was speculation in the press that the Osborne family would try to sue Alistair over the accident, but despite losing the apple of their eye, Rebecca’s parents know better than to take on the Cranes in court. So instead they sit stony-faced throughout the memorial service at the cemetery, clearly still in shock. Most emotional of all is Jonathan Hotchkiss, Rebecca’s ex-fiancé. He weeps and trembles the whole time. He even gets up to say a few words about their time together, what he loved about her, the life they missed out on. Unspoken is the fact that she left him to date Julian. It wasn’t death that tore them apart.

‘It was us,’ thinks Eve. ‘If we hadn’t come back in time, if we hadn’t disrupted everything, then Rebecca would still be alive.’

She and TC chose to attend the funeral because they knew her so much longer than anyone else realizes. Although they had never liked Rebecca and they found most of her conduct back in the 21st century to be reprehensible, it still seemed wrong not to come and pay their respects. What disturbs Eve most of all is the knowledge that because of Rebecca’s death, Gwen Hotchkiss will never be born. She supposes that the break-up with Jonathan ended that possibility long ago, but it’s the finality of death that really drives home this fact. Eve has always liked Gwen, always felt she was a fair-minded woman whose feud with Theresa Lopez-Fitzgerald, though messy, wasn’t her doing. Eve loves Theresa but thinks she has treated Gwen poorly through all her efforts to steal Ethan.

Eve’s mind now drifts to Whitney, Chad, and Fox who were heading to LA the night she and TC disappeared. Ethan and Gwen were already there, trying to escape Theresa and finish Gwen’s difficult pregnancy in peace. Eve wonders how that has turned out for them. She also wonders if Theresa and Fox have ended up together. Whitney had mentioned making efforts to push together her best friend with Julian’s only son. ‘I wonder if that ever happened,’ she thinks.

The death of Rebecca has only strengthened Eve’s resolve to get back to the future. The longer she stays in the past, the more potential there is for screwing up the lives and negatively altering the fate of more Harmony residents. She knows that Tabitha is a witch, and she’s convinced it was Tabitha who caused TC to find out about her and Julian.

TC knows everything. That statue she discovered in the maze, those tears she saw trickling from its eyes, those were real. The statue itself was ‘real’. It was TC turned to stone.

When the night ended and the fog dissipated, TC emerged from the maze and found Eve. She was so relieved to see him but when she tried to hug him, he stepped away from her.

_“We’re finished Eve. And this time I mean it.”_

Standing, frozen in place, unable to do anything but watch and listen, TC had witnessed the meeting between Eve and Julian. He learned of their relationship, of their affair, of their secret love child, and of Eve’s role in the accident that cost him his tennis career.

Eve had been at a loss for what to say. There was no defense for what she did. For continuing to lie to him and keep these secrets, even after he had forgiven her about the Liz deception. She asked him, weakly, to forgive her. She insisted that there truly was nothing left she was keeping from him, but he flatly rejected even the more distant possibility of that.

 _“I will_ never _love you again.”_ Those were his last words to her.

Here at the funeral, seated in the back row, Eve looks at TC a few rows ahead and wishes he would turn back and see her. That their eyes would meet and he would read in them just how sorry she is. But he doesn’t.

When the funeral is over, Alistair and Governor Winthrop are speaking casually about a new business venture related to Winthrop’s fishery corporation. There is a lot of profit in it for both of them if they play their cards right.

“You know, Alistair, now that your son is single again, maybe he should consider dating my daughter. Ivy has finally left that buffoon of a cop.”

“I heard,” says Alistair. “I think that’s a good idea. An alliance with the Osbornes would have been profitable for Crane Industries, but your daughter seems much better suited to my family. The Winthrops and the Cranes share a much more distinguished pedigree than those people.” He jerked his head in the direction of Rebecca’s parents.

Neither man has any compunction about discussing such matters at _the funeral_ of the young victim, dashed to pieces on the rocks below Alistair’s property.

“I’ll talk to my daughter. I’ll make her see reason. If she’d kept to her class instead of dating the Bennett boy, she would have saved herself a lot of heartache.”

“His father had the audacity to question _me_ about Rebecca’s death,” says Alistair. The anger in his voice is palpable.

“You know, if you’d like to get back at him, I have a great suggestion,” says the Governor with a smile. “Ivy’s most trusted maid reported the real reason for the split: she caught Bennett kissing _a man_ on the night of your gala.”

Alistair’s eyes flash with delight. “That _is_ good to know.” He can’t wait to see the look on Samuel Sr. when he shares that little bit of trivia. He’ll save it for the right moment.

Sam and Noah have not spoken since the night in question. Noah continued to wander through the mist, trying to find his way out. As suddenly and mysteriously as he’d arrived on the Crane grounds he stepped through the haze and found himself outside his car on the side of the road. The fog cleared and he continued on his way. He arrived at his sister’s house hours later than he should have, utterly exhausted.

 _“What happened? What took you so long?”_ she asked.

 _“I stopped outside Harmony because of a really bad fog that rolled in,”_ he explained. _“I must have fallen asleep behind the wheel or something while I waited. I had the strangest dream…”_

He still believes that it was all a dream, although reading about Rebecca’s death and the fact that she was last seen alive inside the hedge maze certainly makes him marvel at the strange coincidence.

Ivy for her part has not spoken to Sam since that night either. She went to his apartment to pack up any of her belongings that were there. Eve tried to counsel Ivy to reconsider but the socialite’s mind was made up.

 _“I hope we can remain friends,”_ Ivy said. _“You should come up to Maine and be a guest at my parent’s house this summer. We can play tennis and go horseback riding and just relax. You can take your mind off TC and Julian, I’ll take mine off Sam.”_

_“Ivy, you know I can’t. I have a job here. And a little sister to take care.”_

_“Oh yes. That thing…”_ Not having to see Liz anymore was a small salve for her heartbreak. Liz made a point of staying out with her friends during the move-out, otherwise Ivy might have told her about Sam’s same-sex “interests” just to shatter the teen’s fantasy about being with Sam someday.

Meanwhile, Crystal is still on edge since the night of the gala. In some ways she is almost grateful for Rebecca’s death — “grateful” isn’t the right word, but something close to it — because it created a huge diversion. If Alistair had been wondering what happened to her while she was lost in the maze delivering that file to Julian and Eve, the commotion caused by Rebecca’s death had pushed that out of his mind. He hasn’t mentioned the missing file which makes her wonder if he’s noticed its absence.

Although Julian had swore to Eve they could hop in the Crane jet the morning after the Gala, Rebecca’s death put those plans on hold. After the coffin has lowered into the ground and the priest has said his final words, he approaches Eve. The move does not go unnoticed by TC. He scowls, trudging in the direction of the parking lot.

“Julian, I don’t know if this is the best time,” says Eve.

“I know, but I didn’t want to show up at the clinic or your apartment. We need to figure out our next move. We need to get…” he hesitates and then says “Vincent” instead of “our son.”

Eve nods her agreement, eyes darting around the crowd of people in black slowly drifting from the graveside. “Tonight at the cottage?”

“I’ll be there at 11.”

The hours creep by slowly. Sam is at work, Liz is out with friends again. Eve sits alone on the couch in the apartment, the television playing but none of it registering for her. She’s lost TC. Nothing is going to bring him back to her — and maybe he won’t even agree to go back to their old world together. If he does, the girls will be devastated to learn their parents are no longer together. Eve tries not to dwell on the future. 

When she arrives at the cottage on the Crane grounds that night, Julian is there waiting for her. He has made copies of the documents from Alistair’s safe. He’s been reviewing them for days, dedicating as much to memory as he possibly can.

“Hi Julian,” Eve says, approaching the table where Julian sits with the papers spread out in front of him. “How are you holding up? About Rebecca, I mean.”

He sighs. “Rebecca was an amoral, vacuous little primadona. But she didn’t deserve _that._ ” He rubs his temples as though he has a headache. “I can’t help but feel responsible. If I hadn’t led her on all these months, she wouldn’t be dead.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I don’t know much of anything these days. But I do know this much…”

“No, Julian, don’t say it.”

“I know I love you and I always will.”

Eve is saddened by the words. “Please, I don’t want to hear that. I’ve made up my mind—”

“But TC left you. I saw you were sitting apart at the funeral, I saw the look on his face when he was leaving the cemetery. He hates you, doesn’t he?”

Eve nods.

“I could never hate you.”

“Julian, are we going to talk about getting our son back or did you only want me here to talk about our relationship?”

“Can’t we talk about both?”

“No. This is non-negotiable.”

Reluctantly, Julian shifts gears. They discuss the task ahead of them. Later this week Julian has business on the west coast, conveniently at Crane Industries LA office. Eve will join him on the plane over, she can pose as his new assistant. Once he’s finished that, they will rent a car and head immediately to the home of the Clarksons, east of the city. Julian suspects the family will be happy to be rid of the baby, especially if he offers to make it worth their while. They don’t have a lot of money.

Eve agrees with the plan. She will meet him at Harmony’s air strip on the appointed date.

“How are we going to raise our son if we’re not together? Don’t tell me you think you can take care of a one-year-old baby while also working at the clinic and raising your sister.”

“I don’t have to ‘raise’ Liz, she’s practically an adult.”

“Sam isn’t going to want to share his apartment with a baby. That place is already probably pretty crowded. Whereas here at the Crane mansion Vincent would have nothing but space. He’d have every advantage. _We’d_ have every advantage. We could raise him together and there is nothing my father can do to stop us once we’ve come out publicly as the parents of a little boy. I’ll threaten to go to the papers if father attempts to stop us. We have all the necessary documents to expose him and his deeds.”

“Julian, you’re right. Our son will grow up at the Crane mansion. He will get everything that’s owed to him. His birth right. But you won’t be raising him with me. Once we get back with him, once I know he’s safe, I’m leaving.”

Julian is stunned.

“Leaving Harmony?”

“That’s right.”

“Where are you going?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“It does to me. Vincent and I will join you. We’ll leave together and start over.”

She shakes her head. “No. I’ll be going alone. You will stay and raise our son. You’ll let him know how much his mother loved him. How much she will always love him.”

“Eve this is absurd. Tell me, where do you plan to go. And why. Why after all this, you wouldn’t want to stay and be with your son. If not me, then at least your son.”

There are tears running down Eve’s cheeks. She is crying yet calm. She looks around them and thinks about what it will be like to visit Sheridan at this very cottage and remember coming here with Julian.

He looks at her for a long time and finally decides not to push the matter any further. ‘When she’s holding our son again, she’ll realize she can’t leave town. She won’t be able to give him up.’

x

Across Harmony at the Russell house, Reggie has noticed both his wife and his son have been acting strange for days. Ever since the gala. He knows it has to do with more than just the death of the Osborne girl.

The breakup of Eve and TC once again has been hard on him, but it has been especially devastating for his son. _“She’s been fucking Julian Crane_ , _”_ TC had roared when Reginald pressed him for details. The assertion had shocked him into silence. After that, he was afraid to broach the subject and TC was in no mood to say any more.

Geraldine is changed too. She expressed surprise and sadness at the news that Eve and TC were no longer together. At night, side by side in bed, when Reginald asked her what she thought of the whole mess, she was quiet. Distant. That is best way to describe her these days — Geraldine seems forever lost in thought. Her normally buoyant, no nonsense personality is muted.

The truth is, she doesn’t know how to be around TC anymore. The revelation that he and Eve had come back to Harmony from the future, replacing the son she knew, has shaken her faith in… everything. Time, space, God, the universe. None of it makes sense to her anymore. TC is her son and yet he’s like a stranger. He has lived an entire life that she knew nothing about. All the little changes in his personality this past year all make sense to her now.

Initially she tried to convince herself it had all been a dream. That maybe she fell asleep in the maze or hit her head and imagined the whole thing. But that is even more preposterous than the truth. She will never forget meeting that kind woman, Grace, and seeing the photograph of the Russell and Bennett families. She will never forget meeting one of her future granddaughters.

Geraldine is also haunted by the fact that she left Simone with the promise of returning shortly with a surprise. Once again, a family member has disappeared leaving her all alone. The thought makes Geraldine sick with guilt.

She considers bringing up her knowledge to TC but for some reason can’t find the words. Not yet. He’s so emotional and fraught over the ending of things with Eve, it never seems like the right time. His temper is explosive. If what he says about Eve is true, Geraldine could never forgive her. And yet Eve is the mother of Simone. Of Whitney. The grandchildren that Geraldine doesn’t even know but feels an intense connection to. She will bring this up with TC. She _must_. But the only question is: when?


	26. Chapter 26

For Eve and Julian, events unfold in a most unexpected way: just as planned. After all the set-backs and defeats, the dashed hopes, the disappointments, for once — and when it counts most of all — they find success.

Julian makes it to LA with Eve as his “assistant,” they escape the scrutiny of Alistair’s staff and find the Clarkson family. And they get their son back. Jan and Bob Clarkson are initially skeptical of the young couple that shows up on their door. The Clarksons are a white couple who live in a dilapidated bungalow in a rundown neighbourhood. They have seven children, all of them under the age of 10. Their house is a mess and it seems to Julian that they adopt foster children just to receive the small monthly government subsidy.

Vincent is not quite one year old. He is just beginning to walk. When he toddles towards them down the front hall, Eve kneels down and her eyes widen. The expression on her face, the way she positively glows, is undeniable, even to the Clarksons. She clearly is the child’s mother. Julian proceeds to show them the paperwork related to the situation with Alistair. The baby-switch in the Boston hospital, the cover up. Keeping this baby suddenly feels like it’s going to be a costly headache for them. Police will be involve, the media, maybe even federal investigators. And all for a child they have viewed as a freak since the moment they first changed his diaper.

It turns out that little Vincent is intersexed. He has both male and female genitalia. The Clarksons were disgusted by this revelation and planned to raise him as a male, punishing him for ever touching or referring to his ‘second sex.’ If Vincent stayed in their care, the couple would have surely brutalized him for his differences. Jan decides to tell Eve about what she describes as Vincent’s “deformity.” (She does not used the word ‘intersex’. It would still be a couple more decades before the word gains wide use, but Eve knows all about the phenomenon thanks to her medical background.) Julian is confused and looks a little disturbed by the revelation, but Eve doesn’t bat an eye. She hugs the curly-haired baby, smiles and says he’s perfect.

Julian offers the couple more money than they ever could have imagined in exchange for their son. He has paperwork they can sign in order to make it official. He’s done his homework. No ordinary person would be able to get away with such a speedy transaction involving the adoption of a child, but Julian Crane is obviously no ordinary person. Eve wonders what they would have done without Julian’s money and influence?

And so by evening, Julian and Eve are back on the Crane jet, their son sleeping in Eve’s arms.

For over 30 years Eve has wondered about this baby — this baby who isn’t even one year old. She missed him for so long and now here he is. He rests soundly against her chest and soon she falls asleep too. Julian finds a blanket and wraps it around them.

His staff are all stunned by the news that their boss — or rather, their second-in-command after Alistair — fathered a child and that he is bringing that child back to Harmony. Everyone on the plane knows the Crane patriarch will be furious and they all wonder if that rage will be taken out on them. There’s nothing they can do but wait and see.

Julian has made preparations with a contact from the New York Times. He’s promised the reporter a huge story. He wants the world to know about his son and he’s more than willing to throw his father under the bus. Initially he thought he would give Alistair the option to apologize, to mend his ways and accept Vincent. However, Julian knows that Alistair will never change. So long as he’s in power, Julian, Eve, and Vincent will all be in danger. Julian needs to expose his father’s heinous act and end his reign before he can do more harm.

When he tells his plan to Eve, she couldn’t agree more. She talks about the future hypothetical crimes of Alistair Crane as though she’s already witnessed them.

“He will stop at nothing to slander us in the press,” Julian warns. “He has powerful friends who own huge media companies. Are you prepared for that?”

Eve nods. “So long as I can tell Liz first. I don’t want her finding out about us and Vincent from the newspapers. Or her classmates.”

When they land in Harmony, Alistair’s workers immediately scuttle off to warn him. Everyone wants to be the first to tell the boss about what’s happened, to show him their loyalty. Vincent fusses in Eve’s arms as they make their way to a waiting car. The Times reporter Julian mentioned is waiting inside. Eve’s heart begins to pound. They’re really doing this.

Julian strokes his sleeping son’s head. As if reading Eve’s thoughts he says: “It’s the only way to save ourselves from father, once and for all.”

“Let’s do it.”


	27. Chapter 27

Liz is seated in the cafeteria with her friends. All the usual chatter and gossip is going on around her and she’s trying her best to act normal. Betsy, her best friend, elbows her. “Look who’s coming our way,” she whispers. It’s Craig Madison, the boy Liz has been crushing on for months. He’s so cute. Even though they sit beside each other in physics class, Liz hasn’t been able to muster the courage to speak to him. He’s on the football team, totally the all-American guy type with sandy brown hair, a chiseled jaw, and the most perfect butt cheeks on the planet. He’s with a couple of his buddies from the team. To Liz’s surprise they’re looking right at her.

“Hi Liz,” Craig says, flashing her that winning smile.

“H-hi Craig.”

His friends on either side are grinning. Betsy tucks a lock of hair behind one ear and tries to get the attention of one of them, who she’s been pining over for years. But all eyes are on Liz. Craig pulls a folded piece of paper from his pocket and hands it to her. She opens it and sees his phone number is written inside.

“I was wondering if you could give that to your sister. Get her to call me and let me know how much I owe her for last night.”

His buddies burst out laughing. People at the table next to Liz’s group also start laughing. Even a few of her friends stifle their own giggles. Craig high-fives one of his friends and they continue on their way, laughing the whole time.

Betsy puts a hand on Liz’s and asks if she’s okay. “Do you want to go to the bathroom?” Liz is on the verge of bursting into tears. She nods and they get up and leave the cafeteria, laughter still ringing in her ears.

“That was so not cool,” says Betsy when they’re in the girl’s bathroom. She lights a cigarette and leans up against the sink. “I could _kill_ Jamie,” she says, referring to one of Craig’s cronies, the one she has a crush on.

Liz can hardly hear her though.

For weeks she has felt like the whole school — the whole town — has been staring at her, thinking, ‘There she is. That’s the whore’s little sister.’

When news broke about Eve and Julian, their past relationship and the bastard child they produced, it was all anybody seemed to talk about. The relationship and the child would have been a scandalous story in and of itself — Julian Crane, scion of one of New England’s most established and wealthy families, having a relationship with a _black_ woman whose resumé included work as a former nightclub singer and prostitute. But the story didn’t stop there. What made international headlines was the revelation that his father had used his considerable power to orchestrate the “death” of their illegitimate son.

With incontrovertible evidence now in the public sphere, and with witnesses and accomplices coming forward on an almost daily basis, even a man as powerful as Alistair Crane cannot cover up the story. Crane Industries shareholders are demanding his resignation. There are rumours that the company board of directors is going to overthrow its chairman and CEO, installing Julian in his place.

But none of this matters to Liz. She just wants to be a normal teenager. She just wants to go on dates, excel at tennis, pass her exams and get a summer job down on the pier. None of that seems possible anymore. She hasn’t been able to bring herself to attend tennis practice because she feels so awkward and guilty around Coach Russell. Liz was devastated when he and Eve split up. Now that she knows more about what led to that break-up, Liz feels even more awkward in TC’s presence.

“Bets, I think I’m going to cut class,” says Liz. “I can’t face physics 11 this afternoon. I can’t sit next to that asshole.”

“Let’s skip together,” Betsy says, delighted.

Liz likes this idea. Betsy has a car and they can go cruising until dinner time. Maybe Betsy will even invite her over to eat with her family. Liz doesn’t like to be around Eve right now. On the one hand she has always looked up to her sister, has come to see her as a protector who rescued her from Rodney’s abuse. Thanks to Eve, Liz was able to start over. However, it’s also Eve’s fault she’s in this situation, a source of mockery and scorn.

As if to underscore this point, Mrs. Drexler, their witch of a homeroom teacher, suddenly appears in the bathroom door.

“Smoking is _not_ permitted on school grounds,” she says looking at the cigarette in Betsy’s hand. “I expected better of you, Betsy. Liz… Well, I suppose it shouldn’t surprise me. I’ll let you both off with a warning. This time. Betsy, try not to let Ms. Sanbourne lead you down her family’s path.”

Betsy is about to shoot back with a barbed remark, but Liz grabs her arm to shut her up.

“Sorry Miss Drexler,” says Liz, eyes downcast.

When the teacher is gone Betsy says: “Okay, it’s definitely time for us to get the hell out of here.”

Liz agrees.

It’s not until late that night that Liz returns home to the apartment. As soon as she opens the door, she’s greeted by Vincent’s cries. She scowls. Her feelings towards Eve may be ambivalent but the dislike of her nephew is absolute.

Sam is in the kitchen, still dressed in his police uniform, bouncing the baby in his arms, hoping he’ll stop crying. He doesn’t.

“Hey Liz,” he says, sounding tired. “Want to have a go at this?”

“Where’s Eve?”

“She’s with Julian. I think they’re working out some details related to the Crane mansion. Alistair is fighting to keep them from moving Vincent in there, but his power is definitely waning and public opinion is not in his favour.”

Liz looks at her nephew. ‘Good,’ she thinks. ‘Go live with the Cranes. That’s what you are anyway.’ But then something occurs to her:

“Sam, if Vincent is going to live with Julian, what’s Eve going to do?” (‘What am _I_ going to do?’)

Sam has somehow managed to get the baby to calm down. “I don’t actually know,” he admits in a hushed voice. “Eve insists that she and Julian aren’t together anymore. But she hasn’t explained what her plan is.”

“You probably want us gone,” says Liz, glumly.

“I never said that!”

But Sam can’t deny that he’s beginning to miss having his own space. He’s loved living with Eve and Liz, and is even getting a little attached to Vincent, but he also misses his privacy. With Ivy insisting they’re finished, he can’t help but wonder what it will be like to date again. And he doesn’t know how many women will want to come back to his apartment if there’s a young mother and teenager also living there…

He decides to change the subject and asks how tennis practice went.

“Oh, it was fine,” she lies. What Liz doesn’t realize is that Sam knows she skipped practice.

Earlier that night, TC had given him a call to ask about Liz. She is one of his best players and he doesn’t want the problems between him and Liz’s sister to hamper her experience on the team. For TC, it is hard not to see Liz as the grown women he’d known back in 2003. She is, after all, only a few years young than him, Eve, and Sam. But at this age, those are a significant few years. TC often speaks to her like the adult she is in his mind, which is something young Liz really likes and appreciates about him.

During their phone conversation, TC and Sam had discussed the possibility of moving in together. For TC, it is high time he moved out of his parents’ house. He’d originally moved back because of his injury but by now he is largely healed. At least healed enough to live independently.

The public revelation about Eve and Julian’s son shocked Reggie and Geraldine. The last time they split up, Reginald had secretly hoped they would reconcile. Now he loudly voices his disgust with Eve and his relief that TC has “dodged a bullet there.” Geraldine was stunned by the revelations, however — like everything for her these days — her feelings about it are not black-and-white. She wonders about Eve’s past life with TC, she wonders if maybe there is more to the story with Julian than anyone knows.

That night, as Reginald snores on the couch, Geraldine works up the nerve to ask TC about Eve. “Do you know how she and the baby are doing?”

“Why the hell would I know,” he snaps. “That kid will be doing just fine thanks to do all the money his dad has. Before long he’ll be running down tennis players just like his old man.” TC can’t bring himself to admit that it was actually Eve who is responsible for his accident. That detail hurts him even more than the secret relationship and the child.

Geraldine regrets asking. She had been hoping to open a dialogue, work towards telling him that she knows about his past life with Eve. That they have two daughters. And to ask him how he plans to get back to them. If at all…


	28. Chapter 28

‘Here goes nothing,’ Eve thinks. She punches through one of the small glass panes above the back door’s handle and reaches through, turning the lock. She’s in the house now, it’s dark and silent, she rushes through the back porch and into the kitchen. She scans the room. It’s not nearly as cluttered as the last time she was there.

Tabitha is out. Eve watched her leave and head down the street, presumably off to run errands. _‘Or maybe to collect more eye-of-newt from the estuary.’_

Eve needs to be in and out as quickly as possible. Home alarms aren’t yet a thing in 1969 — and certainly not in little towns like Harmony — but it seems totally plausible that Tabitha might have cast a protection spell of some sort over the house. Maybe she is sensing Eve’s presence right now and rushing back to catch her.

She passes through the kitchen and into the living room. It seems cozy in there. For a witch, Tabitha keeps a very nice home.

“There!” she says aloud, running across the room to an imposing book shelf. She can see the title she’s looking for, although it’s written in a strange, ancient language. This is the book Tabitha had out on her table when Eve and TC barged their way into the house months ago. Eve doesn’t know what the book says but her gut tells her Tabitha will do anything to get it back.

Eve yanks the book off the shelf and then turns to run.

“Princess?” A small boy is standing in the living room doorway looking confused. “Ah!!” He suddenly collapses to the floor. He’s no longer a little boy he’s… Tabitha’s life-sized doll!

“What the fuck…” Eve says is disbelief. She approaches the doll and gives it a tentative nudge with the toe of her shoe.

“Ow!” the doll says. It once again looks like a little boy.

“Who are you??”

“Who are _you?_ ” he asks in a high, babyish voice. Except Timmy knows exactly who Eve is. He also realizes what she’s doing when he sees the book in her hands. Immediately he tries to snatch it from her, but the book is almost as big as him. There’s no way he can wrench it from Eve.

“That’s not yours!” Timmy shouts.

Eve has no time to make sense of what’s going on. She holds the ancient text out of Timmy’s reach and says: “Look, tell Tabitha that if she ever wants to get this back, she needs to help return me and TC to where we came from. She’ll know what I’m talking about.”

Timmy looks frantic. What will Tabitha do when she finds out he failed to stop Eve from leaving with her most valuable spell book??

“But – but – but …”

“No buts. You heard me. Tell Tabitha or else the book is gone for good. If she tries casting a spell on me or TC or the people we love, I will destroy this book. Or else it will stay hidden forever. Don’t think I won’t. I’ve got nothing to lose.”

Timmy nods nervously.

Satisfied, Eve runs past him through the kitchen. She makes the mistake glancing back at him over her shoulder and consequently plows into the kitchen island. A large blue bowl goes sliding off and onto the floor with a crash. Water goes everywhere.

Eve winces. She hadn’t intended to vandalize the property in addition to the theft. Timmy cries out in dismay when he sees the broken bowl. “Princess is going to kill Timmy!”

But Eve doesn’t have time to think about this. She races from the house, cutting through the back yards until she’s several blocks from Tabitha’s house. She’s panting and has a cramp in her side. She has her bargaining chip though. Now the ball is in Tabby’s court.

x

Tabitha doesn’t kill Timmy. She does cause him to levitate upside-down for a little while, but ultimately doesn’t want to harm him. She’s furious at Eve but also at herself for letting her guard down. Now not only is the book gone — one of only three copies in existence anywhere in the world — but the bowl she uses for spying has also been destroyed. She has no way of figuring out where Eve is or what she did with the book.

It’s clear to Tabitha that Eve is a serious threat to her secret identity as a witch. She should have killed her and TC when they first broke into the house. Now with the book in their possession, Tabitha has to tread carefully. If Eve wants to be sent back to her universe, why not just give her what she wants? Thankfully _that_ particular spell is outlined in a different book from the one Eve took. Send her back to where she came and let that be the end of it.

“Alright Tim Tim,” she says, still irritated with him. “You’re going to be my messenger. Tell Miss Johnson that I’ll give her what she wants. But it’s not so straight forward. She needs to come back here so that I can give her some instructions in preparation for the spell. She should come alone, unless she wants to bring that Russell lunk-head with her.”

Timmy looks a little confused by the term ‘lunk-head’ but he doesn’t question the witch.

Under cover of darkness, Timmy makes his way across town to the apartment Eve shares with Sam. He knocks nervously. It’s not Eve who answers, but her sister.

“Uh… Hi. Can I help?”

“Timmy has a message for Eve, is she home?”

“Who’s Timmy?”

“Timmy’s Timmy!” he says, pointing to himself.

“I’ll go get her, just one second,” says Liz, obviously confused.

When Eve returns a moment later, she steps out into the hallway, closing the apartment door behind her.

“If you’ve come for the book, I’m not stupid enough to bring it here with my family and my friend.”

Timmy shakes his head vigorously. “No, Timmy has a message for you. Tabby will give you what you want, but she need to speak to you first.”

“When?”

“If you came now, it would save Timmy walking all the way back…”

Eve drives. She wants to ask this curious ‘child’ about just who he is and what his connection is to Tabitha Lenox, but he seems very nervous. Sometimes when he’s sitting perfectly still in the passenger seat, it’s almost like he becomes a doll again — at least that’s what Eve thinks she sees out of the corner of her eye. But when she turns to him, he always looks very human.

Eve hadn’t anticipated being inside Tabitha’s house so soon after the break-in. She winces with guilt at the sight of the broken window pane on the back door. Tabitha is waiting for her in the living room. She sits in an enormous black wingback chair by the fire place.

Tabitha is livid that Eve managed to get the better of her but she speaks in a calm voice.

“I do wish you had just come to me and made a request of me and my powers. You jumped to the nuclear option when I would have been more than willing to assist had you only asked.”

Eve doesn’t buy this for a second. She stands with her arms crossed, facing Tabitha from across the room. Timmy had left immediately.

“Your… friend told me you needed to speak to me before you could grant my request.”

Tabitha would like nothing more than to shoot lightning from her hands and fry the impudent young doctor-to-be where she stands, but she has to hold back.

“What you want is no easy task. I’m not sure what brought you and TC back from your time to this time, but it was not a matter of rolling back the clock 35 years. You were pulled into a parallel dimension, one that just happens to lag behind yours. Your arrival here has thrown things into disarray. For starters, the Eve and TC of 1968 ceased to exist the moment you appeared on this plane. You replaced them. _Erased_ them. And so leaving here will mean the end of Eve and TC. You will disappear and leaving everyone wondering whatever became of that nice young couple with so much promise. In our world there will be no Whitney, there will be no Simone, there will be no noble Dr. Eve Russell at Harmony Hospital, upstanding citizen and pillar of the community. All that never comes to pass in _this_ world.”

Eve feels a lump in her throat.

“You’ve had quite the impact in your short time here. Personally, I’m disappointed by the ousting of Alistair Crane. With him in power, I was assured decades of pain and suffering. Although maybe this means his wife Katherine Crane will come back to Harmony along with her lover, Martin Fitzgerald…”

Eve’s eyes widen. Julian’s mother is alive? And ran away with Pilar’s husband??

Tabitha smiles.

“Our universes were running on parallel tracks until you arrived. Now they’re diverged dramatically. In this world, there will be no Gwen Hotchkiss. Liz will never move to the Caribbean and fall for Pilar’s son, Antonio. Although maybe they will fall in love here. With Alistair deposed and Julian in charge, perhaps he’ll bring his sister back to Harmony and allow her to grow up here as opposed to in Europe.” (If this happens, Tabitha will be ready and waiting to prevent her and Luis from falling in love and living happily ever after.) “My point is that what you’ve done in this world doesn’t affect yours. Your son Vincent was never rescued there. And he… well, I’m not even going to give you a _hint_ about how ‘he’ turned out… You may feel like you’ve accomplished something here, but I promise you that in returning to the twenty-first century you’ll have even more problems waiting for you than when you left. Do you _really_ want to go through all that pain and suffering?”

Eve senses what Tabitha is trying to do and refuses to take the bait.

“I’ve done all I can in this world to make it better than the one I found. But now I have to go back and do the same in my own world. No matter how difficult that may be.”

Tabitha’s expression sours.

“Very well,” she snaps. “And very self-righteous, too. You’ll be sorry though. Mark my words.”

She then goes on to explain what Eve needs to do. In one week it will be a full moon. At midnight, Tabitha will reopen the gateway to the other timeline and Eve and TC will return to their own universe, roughly one year later than when they left. (“Time hasn’t stopped there in your absence,” Tabitha explains.) Opening the portal between worlds will require Eve to collect items — talismans — with links to their life in the future, as many as she can find. Tabitha will use them during the spell-casting.

“Remember,” she says before Eve departs. “This is a one-way ticket I’m offering, and it’s good for you and TC. No bringing along your sister or baby or that insufferable Geraldine Russell. Understood? None of your loved ones in this world can know about our inter-dimensional, magical business. If you tell a single person about me and my witchhood, I will gladly sacrifice that book of spells to turn you into a cockroach and stamp you into the floor.”

Eve can tell by the look in Tabitha’s eyes that she means it too. Timmy, who is listening from around the corner, shudders. He knows what his Princess is capable of.

“Understood,” Eve says solemnly.


	29. Chapter 29

“Thanks Vinny,” says Eve, as the Blue Note’s long-time bartender hands her one of the old posters from a past act. She’s in Boston. She won’t be here long. She’s actually just stopping on her way to Maine. She wanted to have one last look at the place, say her goodbyes and maybe find a souvenir or two.

She thinks about the night Grace appeared to her and Julian in the parking lot. Grace had held an old poster from the Blue Note, and even used the same word as Tabitha, calling it a talisman. Eve figures it couldn’t hurt to bring the same poster to Tabitha’s house to use in casting the spell.

Soon Eve will be seeing Grace _in person_. She can’t wait, although lingering in the back of Eve’s mind is the truth of her role in breaking up Grace’s marriage… She will have to tell her friend about the deception and just let the chips fall where they may…

“I read in the papers that your baby’s named Vincent!” Vinny says, grinning. “Named after me, right?”

“If you actually could read, you would know that’s the name his adoptive parents gave him,” laughs Eve. “But let’s just say Julian and I decided to keep the name because of our favourite bartender. Thanks again for the poster.”

“I’m still waiting for the return of Eve Johnson,” he says. “The Blue Note’s stage is always here for you.”

Eve is still beaming when she leaves the bar, stepping out into the hot sunny day. She is definitely feeling nostalgic and decides to take a drive around Boston before continuing on her way up to visit Ivy at the Winthrop estate in Maine. How different everything looks and yet she remembers it all. She decides that when she gets back to the 21st century, she will come up to Boston again and drive the same route, noting all the differences. The old Boston General Hospital, for example, which looks so small now as she drives by compared to the massive facility that will replace it in the late 1980s.

Eve slams on the breaks, nearly causing an accident. She recognizes someone standing on the sidewalk outside the hospital’s entrance. She parks her car in the nearest spot and runs back to the hospital, hoping she’s not too late.

“Grace!”

Grace Standish looks startled. Who is this woman running up to her. And now hugging her??

“Do I … know you?”

“You do. Or will. Or might have, if I wasn’t leaving.” Eve can’t believe she’s seeing her best friend. Grace looks so young. Eve feels that same sense of surprise and delight at seeing a familiar face only younger; there had been so many such moments when she and TC first landed back here. “How are you?”

“I’m … not so good, but lucky to be alive,” she says. “You say we know each other? I’m sorry if I look confused.”

Grace motions for them to sit down on a nearby bench.

“I’ve only just been released from the hospital,” she explains, pointing back at the large brick edifice. Grace proceeds to tell Eve all she can about the fire that engulfed her apartment building and resulted in her near death. She managed to escape without any permanent harm. Except for her memory loss. She’s effectively lost her identity. “You could help me, couldn’t you? You know who I am! You can help me retrace my steps, find my family if I have one.”

Eve thinks about David Hastings and wonders what young-David is doing right now. She feels uncomfortable and wonders if it was a mistake to approach Grace like this. There’s nothing Eve can really do for her, and soon she’ll be leaving this world permanently.

“I wish I could,” says Eve, genuinely sorry. “But I’m about to leave the country. I won’t be coming back either.”

Grace is visibly crestfallen.

“But I can tell you this much: there’s a town here in New England called Harmony. You should move there. You belong there.”

Grace pulls a small diary from her purse. She’s been using it to take copious notes since coming out of her coma. She walks Eve back to her car. They hug.

“Well, it was nice meeting you,” says Grace. “I’m sorry we won’t get to know each other, but even just running into someone who knows me like this, it gives me hope that others will see and recognize me too.”

Soon, Eve is past the Boston city limits. She thinks about _her_ Grace again and smiles at the prospect of seeing her soon. First though, she needs to say goodbye to Ivy.

x

“So that’s it? You’re actually leaving,” says Ivy for a hundredth time, shaking her head in disbelief. “What am I ever going to do without you? What will that poor little town do without you? I thought you were going to become a doctor.”

“I will. Someday.”

The women are sitting outside the mansion Ivy calls home overlooking the lush, sprawling grounds of the Winthrop estate. It’s even grander and more opulent than that of the Cranes. (Although Eve is relieved to see there’s no hedge maze here.) They sip pink fruity cocktails, which a butler occasionally replenishes. Eve has been deliberately vague about her plans and her motives, and that only makes Ivy suspicious and more than a little hurt.

“You really aren’t going to tell me where you’re going? Eve, you’re my best friend,” she says.

“I can’t. Trust me, if I could, I would tell you.”

“You sound like a spy going on a secret mission.”

“Maybe I’ve been a spy this whole time.”

Ivy can’t help but crack a smile.

“With you gone, there will be no reason for me to ever return to Harmony.”

“You really are finished with Sam?”

“Forever. Eve, if people want to have that kind of … lifestyle … then fine. I can be openminded. It’s _1969_ for after all. But the man I want to marry? No. I’m sorry, I have no interest in welcoming that kind of … confusion into my life.”

Eve knows she doesn’t have time to change Ivy’s mind. Eve has always considered herself progressive, but even _she_ probably harbored some negatives ideas or stereotypes about gay and bisexual people when she was young.

“If not for Sam, maybe you could go back and connect with Julian Crane. He’s single, and I’ll be gone shortly. No more Eve to pine after.”

If she can’t convince Ivy to reconcile with Sam, she hopes that maybe Ivy will wind up marrying Julian. The thought of Fancy, Pretty, and Fox never being born makes Eve sad.

The notion clearly catches Ivy by surprise. She’s intrigued, though tries to hide it. “You wouldn’t hate the thought of your best friend taking up with your ex? Especially a man you’ve had a child with?”

Eve shakes her head sincerely. “It would make me happy to know he’s with someone like you.”

  
“My father has hoped for years that Julian and I would get married. That was before it turned out he had a son of wedlock. Now daddy would be furious with me.” The thought of enraging the Governor makes Julian all the more attractive to Ivy. But she’s going to keep her cards close to her chest for now. As a sign of just how much Ivy’s grown in the year since meeting Eve, she doesn’t want to make Eve’s goodbye visit all about her.

“I’m going to miss you so much, Eve.”

“The feeling’s mutual.” This is when Eve notices the silver locket around Ivy’s neck. Eve recognizes it as the locket Ivy kept throughout her marriage to Julian. It’s the one with the photos of Ethan and Sam inside. A potential talisman. Without thinking, she reaches towards it, then pulls her hand away awkwardly. “Sorry about that. I’ve always thought that was so beautiful.”

Ivy takes the locket off and puts it in Eve’s hands. “Sam gave it to me. Our photos are inside. I should throw it away, but I haven’t been able to. Why don’t you take it? A souvenir to remember me. You could put a photo of your son inside.”

Eve is touched.

“Thank you Ivy.” Her eyes are teary.

“Don’t start blubbering, Eve, or I’ll change my mind.” She smiles though and they hug.

The butler reappears with another pitcher of drinks but Eve declines. “It’s getting late and I have a long drive back to Harmony.”

“Such a goody two-shoes,” Ivy says with a wink. She raises her glass and the servant refills it.

x

As the day of Eve’s departure grows closer, she is getting increasingly nervous about TC and whether she will be able to convince him to come with her. He refuses to take her phone calls and even Sam has been unable to convince him to speak with her.

She works with Crystal — who is now Julian’s head of personnel — to track down the car that she was driving the night of TC’s fateful accident. It’s been sitting at a junkyard two towns over. Eve has it crushed into a cube the size of a small suitcase and then brings it with her back to Harmony. She thinks that something like the car, which has such a profound connection to both her and TC, and the legacy of which was felt throughout their lives, will make a perfect talisman to link them to home.

TC has moved in with Sam. She and Liz have moved onto the Crane estate and are living in Sheridan’s (future) cottage. Julian has promised to let Liz stay on at the cottage, rent-free, after Eve is gone. He still doesn’t believe she will actually go.

“I love you, Eve,” he says. “We have our son. Why leave now?”

“Because I have to. Please Julian, you have to believe me, I would stay if I could.”

“Then why not take us with you?”

She thinks about Tabitha’s grave warning about telling anyone the truth of their situation.

“I can’t. Trust me, I can’t.”

“I do trust you. Why don’t you trust me?”

And so the conversation goes in a circle, over and over each time they have it.

Liz was devastated to learn that her big sister is leaving town, permanently. And yet she doesn’t fight with her. The two have a long heart-to-heart one Eve’s second-last night. Sitting on the steps of the cottage, watching as the fireflies come out, Eve tells Liz she will forever carry the shame of not helping her sister sooner.

“You got me out of there eventually,” says Liz. “That’s all that matters.”

“I wouldn’t be doing this if it wasn’t essential,” she says.

Eve thinks about future-Liz. About their antagonistic relationship as adults. She wants to hold these new memories in her heart, so tight that they will help her to mend that relationship when she gets back to the future. Young-Liz is so mature, so grown up for a teenager. She’s going to thrive. Eve tells herself that the new path Liz is on will hopefully spare her the heartache and bitterness that made her so vindictive.

“You’ll take care of your nephew? Make sure he knows how much his mother loves him?”

Liz nods.

“And you’ll push Julian to move on with some one else? You’ll make sure he doesn’t let this fester in his heart. Turn him into his father.”

“I promise.”

“I love you Liz.”

“I love you too, Eve.”

x

On the night before she goes to meet Tabitha, Eve stops at Sam’s apartment to say goodbye.

“It worries me, what you’re doing,” says Sam. “Leaving now? With no explanation? Something is up. Is Alistair behind this? Because we can protect you from him, Eve. Really. Whatever he’s threatening you with, I’ll do everything in my power as an officer to stop him.”

But she insists that is not the case.

“Sam, where is TC tonight? I _need_ to speak with him.”

Sam bites his lower lip. He doesn’t want to betray TC’s trust, but he also feels such a debt to Eve. He’ll never forget the way she accepted and kept his secret.

“I told TC I would call him when you left the apartment so he could avoid you coming to his house again… He’s at his parents house. He planned to stay there until you and I had said our goodbyes.”

Eve thanks him. They hug. Eve takes one last look at the young police officer, and then hurries across town.

When Reginald opens the door and sees Eve, he quickly moves to shut it in her face, but she wedges an elbow inside.

“Please, Reggie! Please, I need to speak to TC. It’s urgent.”

“He doesn’t want to talk to you. You’ve done enough! Now just leave. Leave him and our whole family alone.”

“You’ll never seen me again, but I need you to go get TC!”

“Reginald,” says a voice from the stairs behind him.

Eve uses the momentary distraction to her advantage and slips into the front hallway.

“This is trespassing!” he fumes. “Breaking and entering!”

“I think we should let Eve speak to him,” says Geraldine. She hollers up over her shoulder. A moment later, TC appears at the top of the stairs.

“What is _she_ doing here?” he asks, coldly.

“Son, I think you need to hear Eve out,” says Geraldine in a calm voice.

“I’ve heard all I need to from her,” he says, turning to go back to his room where he’s been packing up the last of his belongings. He was in the process of putting his tennis trophies in a box and he has one still in his hand. Eve recognizes it and feels a pang of nostalgia for their old life together; that trophy had been on the mantel in TC’s “man cave” back in their home.

“Please!” says Eve. Her voice almost cracks.

“Please, TC.”

He stops. Then finally descends the stairs.

Reginald is furious. He sees the trophy in his son’s hand is reminded all over again that Eve was driving the car that injured TC. He can’t stand even the sight of this woman, and hates the thought of her further hurting his son with whatever she ‘needs’ to tell him. Reginald grabs his keys from a shelf by the door and then storms out to go for a drive.

“Thank you,” Geraldine says as TC passes her. She nods to Eve and then goes back upstairs to her room.

The young couple — ex-couple, former man and wife — stand awkwardly now in the foyer.

“TC, I am truly sorry for everything. For hurting you and lying to you.”

“Is this all you needed to tell me? Because I’ve heard it before and I don’t care.”

“I’m leaving. Tomorrow night.”

The words catch him off guard. He feels a pit growing in his stomach.

“Tabitha has agreed to send us back to our old lives. Back to the future we came from. And she’s doing it tomorrow at midnight.”

He’s speechless. Finally he asks: “How?”

“She’s going to use her powers to open up a portal. She asked me to gather some items that will help form the bridge between then and now.” She looks at the trophy, one of TC’s lifelong prized possessions. It is his last trophy. “Remember how Whitney used to look at that and swear some day she would have an even bigger one?”

He smiles at the memory.

“TC, you don’t have to forgive me. We don’t have get back together. You can tell everyone in Harmony — all our friends, even our daughters — about what a horrible person I am. You can expose me for all I’ve done, but please, come with me. For the girls.”

He hesitates before speaking. Whitney and Simone have meant the world to him since the moment they were born. He thinks about the hours he and Whitney spent on the court. The mischief Simone was always getting into thanks to Kay. Can he really say no to ever seeing them again?

But he does.

“I belong here,” he says. “Simone and Whitney will be fine without me. I have my parents to think of. I have my students, my tennis teams. I have a new life. I will never get over the hurt you’ve caused me, but at least here I can try to start fresh.”

His words are crushing. She puts a hand against the wall to steady herself. He instinctively reaches out to brace her, then recoils the moment he touches her. He wants to say he’s sorry not to be going with her, but the angry part of him, the part of him that will never forgive her, refuses to let him utter those caring words.

Instead he says: “Goodbye Eve.”


	30. Chapter 30

Eve kisses the baby boy on the forehead and then steps away from his crib. She dabs her eyes but holds back the sobs threatening to burst forth and wake him up. Crystal puts a hand on her back as they leave the nursery. The room is practically as big as Eve’s apartment in Boston.

They step out into the hallway and Crystal puts an arm around Eve.

“He’s going to have every advantage in the world,” Crystal reassures her dear friend.

“I know,” says Eve. “I wish I could stay here with him. But at least I know he’ll be taken care of. He’ll have his father. He’ll have his aunt.”

“Aunts,” says Crystal. “Julian’s kid sister is moving back to Harmony. Julian doesn’t want her growing up at boarding schools abroad.”

“That’s wonderful news.”

Crystal walks Eve through the stretching corridors of the Crane mansion, slowly making their way back to the front entrance. Julian is so heartbroken, he refused to be there with Eve while she said her goodbyes to Vincent. Instead he locked himself away in his office in another wing of the building. He is not willing to endorse Eve’s departure with a goodbye.

Eve appreciates Crystal’s calm presence. Crystal was, like everyone else, shocked to learn that Eve is leaving town, but she didn’t pry into her motives. She knows that for Eve to leave her son like this, there has to be a good reason.

“Goodbye Crystal, and good luck,” says Eve, standing outside her car.

“Thanks Eve. And who knows, maybe we’ll meet again,” she says.

The mental image of Crystal’s murdered body on the Harmony wharf makes her shudder. But she forces a smile. “I would love for that to be true.”

Soon she’s pulling up in front of Tabitha’s house. It amazes her to think of all the years she encountered Tabitha in Harmony, never knowing the truth of who she really was. Never suspecting that the strange occurrences might not only be supernatural but were caused by Tabitha Lenox!

She looks over at the Bennett house, where Sam’s parents and little Hank are. Soon she’ll be back in the ‘real’ Harmony, where Sam and his own family live next door to Tabitha.

She reaches up to knock on the door but it opens by itself. Gingerly she steps inside, carrying with her a bag containing the ‘talismans’ she procured in the week since last coming here.

“Hello?”

She moves through the front hall and into the living room. There, lit by the fire, is Tabitha. She is stirring a large black cauldron, like something straight out of a cartoon, except the vessel is floating a couple inches off the floor in the centre of the room. And despite the bubbling liquid inside, there’s no fire beneath it.

“It’s about time.”

“I had to say one last goodbye.”

“You brought what I told you to bring?”

Eve nods.

“And my book?”

Eve reaches into the bag and pulls out the text she stole from Tabitha.

“Good.” Tabitha flicks a hand and the book flies back to its place on the shelf. “Now what else did you bring?”

Eve proceeds to unload the memory-laden items and is dismayed when Tabitha grabs each one and unceremoniously dumps it in her cauldron. The locket from Ivy, the poster from the Blue Note (which Tabitha crumples first), several polaroids of her and Liz, even Sam’s police badge which she swiped just before leaving his apartment. She feels all of these should help Tabitha connect with the future world Eve calls home.

When Tabitha gets to the crushed car, her eyes widen the moment she touches it. “Now _this_ is powerful,” she remarks, almost to herself rather than Eve. “Such pain and pathos infused through this metal scrap. What I wouldn’t give to have something like this melted down and bottled.”

But instead, Tabitha carefully lowers it into the cauldron. The lights flicker overhead as if to emphasize its power and a breeze comes from nowhere, causing the candles around the room to flicker.

Across town, the lights flicker at the Russell residence as well.

TC and his father had fallen asleep watching a tennis game and he is only now waking up.

“Pop,” he says, nudging Reginald. “Pop wake up, it’s past 11.”

Groggily, Reginald stirs and they both get up from the couch, groaning and stretching. They hug goodnight and TC watches his father climb the stairs to the second floor. TC is about to leave the house when his mother speaks up from the nearby dining room, causing him to start.

“TC, please come in here,” she says.

He didn’t realize she was still up. Something is off about her voice. He goes to her. Geraldine is sitting at the table, a piece of paper under her folded hands.

“What is it mom?”

“You have to go.”

“I know, I was just about to head back to the apartment.”

“No, I mean, you have to go home.”

He stares at her, his puzzlement plain.

“Home where? Here or the apartment with Sam?”

“ _Home._ ”

And suddenly it clicks for him.

“How…”

“I can’t explain it, but that night in the maze: TC, I walked through a door and ended up at the home of someone named Grace Hastings.”

TC’s eyes widen. ‘This is impossible,’ he thinks. But then his mind flashes back to that night in the maze, with the fog and the way he was transformed into a statue. A seeing, hearing statue. He thinks about what he witnessed that night and knows what he experienced is no more possible than what his mother is describing.

“She was a really kind woman, and TC she filled me in on all that’s happened since you and Eve disappeared. Since you were transported to this time. Whitney, Simone — they miss you both with all their hearts.”

Hearing his mother speak those names brings tears to his eyes. Tears of sorrow, but also tears of shame.

“Last night when Eve was here, I didn’t actually go back to my room. I listened around the corner. I know that she’s found a way back to your world and that you refused to go with her.”

“I can’t go back, mom. I belong here. The girls will be better off without me.”

“That’s foolish talk.”

“It’s true. I have my job here. My coaching. I have you and dad. Did you know that in my other life, dad died of a broken heart after my tennis accident? Now look at how well he’s doing! You honestly expect me to leave now? Abandon you both?”

“I do,” she says calmly. “You have to do it for my granddaughters.”

“Mom, if I leave now you’ll never have any granddaughters. Not in this world. I’ll be gone and you and dad will be childless.”

Geraldine lifts the paper from the tabletop. TC see’s it is addressed to Simone. Geraldine folds it and tucks it into an envelope before he can read anymore.

“That night when I was with Grace, I met Simone. She was with Grace’s daughter. I thought I could bring you and Eve back through the maze and reunite the three of you. You’d get to see Whitney, too, who Grace said is engaged to someone named Fox and living in Harmony again after a time spent in LA.”

TC’s pulse quickens. “Whitney is engaged _to a Crane?_ ”

Geraldine ignores this.

“TC, I left Simone that night with a promise I’d be back with a surprise. That surprise was supposed to be you and Eve. Even though it’s been a year since her parents disappeared, the hurt was still plain to see in her eyes. She needs you both back, not just her mother.”

TC’s resolve is weakening. He looks at the envelope.

“Give this to her. Please TC. For me.”

“But what about dad?? This would kill him. And he’ll never believe the truth of what happened. That we time-traveled or whatever you call this. I would never have believed any of it except for the fact that it happened to me. Even you have to admit that if you hadn’t experienced what you did the maze, there’s no way you would believe a story so crazy.”

Geraldine agrees.

“Don’t worry about your father. I’ll find a way to make him understand. And I won’t let the same depression you describe from you world take him over this time.”

She takes him by the hands and looks at him, pleadingly.

“Okay,” he says. “I’ll do it.”

Only now does he realize how close it is to midnight.

“Shit. I have to go. _Now_.”

She nods. She can tell he wants to go up and say goodbye to Reggie, but she gently pushes him towards the front door. “There’s no time. I promise, I will find a way to make him understand. You have to go now.”

He remembers what Eve said about bringing items that connect to their past lives. Something like his tennis trophy. Except all his belongings are now at the apartment, and there is no time for him to back and grab anything.

Geraldine knows what he is thinking and she’s prepared. “Here,” she says. “Take this.” And she hands him her wedding ring.

“Mom, no. I can’t.”

“You can and you will.”

“This ring means the world to you. You were—” His voice catches in his throat. He can’t bring himself to say: “You were buried with it.”

“Take this ring and give it to Fox for Whitney. Every time I look down and notice its absence, it will make me happy to know that my granddaughter — out there in some alternate timeline — has it on her hand.”

TC nods. He puts the ring as well as the letter in the front pocket of his jeans.

“Mom…”

Geraldine hugs him and kisses him on both cheeks.

“I’m the luckiest woman to have a son like you. You’re torn because we raised you to always do the right thing, and that’s pulling you in two different directions. But you have to go and be with your daughters. Maybe even you’ll find a way back to your marriage with Eve.”

TC doesn’t want to argue with her on that point. Not in their final moments together. He kisses her forehead and tells her one last time that he loves her. Then he’s off and running to his car.

x

Julian is pacing in his office.

“What was I thinking? Not saying goodbye to her!” He throws his glass of port into the fireplace. Crystal winces at the sound.

“Maybe you can still find her before she goes,” she says. “Eve mentioned something about meeting someone at midnight. Someone here in Harmony.”

Julian snaps to attention.

“You’re certain?”

“She wouldn’t give me any more details, but yes.”

The clock on the mantel shows it’s 11:35. Harmony’s a small town. If he’s quick, he can surely cruise around with an eye for her car and catch her before it’s too late. He can’t let _this_ be how she remembers him.

“Thanks Crystal,” he says, running past her.

x

Tabitha has been mumbling incantations for what seems like an eternity. Every so often she consults a piece of parchment and then adds pinch or this or that to her cauldron. Eve is mesmerized by everything she sees and wonders if she’ll have to drink some of the dark sludge Tabitha is brewing.

“Are you ready?” she asks suddenly looking up. The clock says 11:55.

“Yes,” says Eve, trying to sound confident.

“I can’t say I’m going to miss you, Eve,” she says. “You better hope that TC keeps quiet about my secret. You’ll be out of my reach but the Russells are still here and I’ll make them all pay if he breaths so much as a word about me being a witch.”

“You won’t have to worry about me.”

Tabitha and Eve look to the living room door.

“Oh TC! You came!” Eve runs to him and throws her arms around him. He does not return her embrace.

“I’m doing this for our daughters, Eve,” he says firmly.

Tabitha is pleased by the discord between them. Timmy keeps quiet, but he can tell even from across the room that Tabitha is happy with what she’s seeing.

“Timmy will be glad when all this is behind him and he can fix some drinks for him and his princess…” he whispers.

“Alright you two, any final talismans?”

TC looks at the bubbling cauldron. It looks like toxic waste. No way is he throwing his mother’s wedding ring in there. He shakes his head.

Tabitha waves her hand over it and whispers the last few words of her spell. The clock strikes twelve and the contents of the cauldron begin to smoke and vaporize.

Outside, Julian is driving down the street when he spots Eve’s car.

When the acrid clouds have dissipated in the living room, the pot has disappeared entirely. In its place is… an opening. A doorway. A tear in the fabric of the universe. There is a purple glow on the other side and flashes of blue lightening. The sound of a howling wind is deafening.

Julian is pounding on the door, shouting Eve’s name. “Please! Eve, I need to see you one last time! I need to say goodbye!”

The door swings open and Samuel Bennett Sr. is standing on the other side in his pyjamas.

“Julian Crane? What the hell do you want?”

“Eve,” he says. “I need to see her. I need to say goodbye before she leaves.”

“Eve… Johnson?” He scowls. “What are you on about? Are you drunk?”

Julian points to Eve’s car, parked on the street.

“She’s not here,” says Samuel. “It looks like she’s stopped at…” They both look over at Tabitha’s house and notice a strange purple light coming from one of the rooms. “What on earth…..”

“Go now!” shouts Tabitha. “This will take you back to 2004! Back to the world you came from, but go quickly. This portal is not exactly stable. I need to seal it back up.”

Eve steps towards it and then turns back to TC. She extends a hand and nods. He takes her hand and they step through the opening.

“Claude ostium aeternum!” yells Tabitha with a wave of her hands. The portal closes with a sound like thunder and the room becomes eerily silent. The candles have all blown out. Everything is still.

“Is it over?” asks Timmy, who has covered his ears and shut his eyes.

Before Tabitha can reply there’s the sound of footsteps in the hallway by the front door.

“Eve?”

Julian enters the living room and looks around expecting to find the woman he loves. Instead, he’s greeted by the home’s elderly occupant and very large doll.

“What’s the meaning of this?” she demands.

Julian looks dazed. How can he explain his way out of this one?

“I… I thought I heard shouting. I thought maybe someone was in trouble.”

Tabitha looks around the room as if there might be some clue or detail she’s missing.

“I also noticed that Eve’s car is parked out front and I thought maybe she was here.”

“Ah Eve Johnson,” says Tabitha, clucking her tongue. “I read about you and Miss Johnson in the society pages. I can assure you Julian, your paramour has not darkened my doorstep, nor will she ever.”

“There were lights,” Julian says feebly. “Purple lights coming from in here.”

Tabitha looks at him like he’s crazy. “As you can see, there’s nothing but regular old tungsten bulbs here.” She point at the overhead lights. “This isn’t Vegas, Mr. Crane. Now, if you’d be so kind as to leave my property. You Cranes think you own this town but you can’t just come barging into people’s homes. I have half a mind to call my neighbour police chief Bennett and have him or his son come and arrest you for trespassing.”

“I’ll leave,” Julian says, almost numb. He wants to continue his search around town, but he’s found Eve’s car. Where else can he look?

As soon as he’s gone, Tabitha bolts the deadlock behind him and leans back against the door.

“Oh thank god, _that’s_ over, Tim Tim,” she says, sighing heavily. “Now could you please —”

“Timmy’s one step ahead of you,” he calls from the kitchen. Moments later Tabitha can hear the sound of his martini shaker. When the drinks are made, she and her doll sit at the kitchen table and sip Timmy’s signature pink cocktail.

“I must say, I’m rather pleased with my spellwork on this one,” she says admiringly. “It’s not every witch who can pull apart the seam between dimensions like that, and then stitch it back up just as quickly. With Eve and TC gone, we can rest assured no one else in this town will find out about me and my powers. Or my evil intentions.”

“But Princess, there’s something that Timmy doesn’t understand.”

“Oh here we go…” She rolls her eyes.

“If Princess sent TC and Eve back to Harmony in 2004, back to their old lives there, then doesn’t that mean they pose the same threat to the Princess of 2004? Didn’t Princess just put her and Timmy in danger in that other dimension?”

Tabitha drains the last of her drink and shakes the martini glass to indicate she wants another, her bracelets and bangles clinking with the motion.

“That’s where you’re wrong my little friend,” she grins. “I promised to send to send that back to their dimension. I didn’t promise to send them back to Harmony.”


	31. Epliogue

Liz initially appreciated getting to live at the cottage on the Crane grounds. It made her feel grown up and independent. All her friends at school were jealous. But as time wore on, she began to feel lonely there. It was nice being close to the mansion, where she could easily go to spend time with her nephew, but most nights she wished there was someone to talk to before bed. To reflect on or debrief the day’s events.

Ivy extended somewhat of an olive branch to Liz when she and Julian began dating, which meant Ivy was spending more time in Harmony and around the Crane estate. It wasn’t long before the servants were whispering about a possible engagement between the two. Liz wanted to warn Julian against it, but Ivy actually did seem to make him happy. For weeks he’d been in a deep depression following Eve’s departure. He confided in Liz that he hadn’t said goodbye because he hadn’t wanted to believe she would truly go. And now it was too late. Sometimes he talked about “when Eve returns,” and Liz didn’t have the heart to tell him she doubted that was going to happen.

Initially, Julian was drawn to Ivy because of her close friendship with Eve. As though he could conjure Eve through conversations about her with Ivy. However, as time went on, a genuine fondness and attraction to Ivy began to develop. They could both be firey and passionate, they became famous for their debates (which always turned into foreplay and very good sex).

Julian also spent much of his time buried in his work at Crane Industries, turning the company around in the weeks and months following Alistair’s downfall. His sister, Sheridan, occasionally some curiosity about where her father was but Alistair — some said he had relocated to an island he owned in the Bahamas, but the truth was nobody really knew — clearly hadn’t ever cared about his daughter and so she, in turn, didn’t really care about him.

Liz devoted herself to tennis. With TC gone, the girls team was in danger of being disbanded, however, Reginald Russell stepped in at the last minute to ensure its continuation. It was this responsibility that prevented him from sinking into a depression over the loss of his son. Geraldine managed to convince him that TC had no choice but to go. Although she’d initially planned to concoct an elaborate explanation, in the end she couldn’t let such a mammoth lie exist between her and husband. She told him the truth and, although it required more than a stretch of the imagination, Reginald’s trust in his wife was enough for him. Publicly, they decided to treat TC’s decision to “leave town” with as much surprise as anyone else in Harmony. Most people came to believe TC had left to find Eve. That was conclusion Sam was ultimately forced to accept, although he would forever remain suspicious about the fact his best friend gave him no warning and never reached out, never came to collect his belongings from their shared apartment.

Reginald never forgave Eve for the hurt she’d caused TC and their family. As coach of the girls’ high school tennis team, he took out this frustration on Liz in the beginning. He never praised her skills on the courts and he hoped that his brusque treatment would drive her from the sport. But Liz persisted even harder. Reggie couldn’t deny she was the best of all his players, and against his inclination he began to commend her for her work. He grudgingly offered her one-on-one lessons. She continued to excel and a bond began to form between them. In time, Reginald and Geraldine both looked forwad to any excuse to see Liz or spend time with her. Geraldine often fixed her meals or snacks and dropped them off at the cottage for her, sometimes leaving them on the stoop with a little note.

When she wasn’t playing tennis or in school — or going on a “date night” with Sam, who always made time to see her and ensure she knew he hadn’t forgotten her — Liz spent her free time at the Youth Centre. Anything to avoid going home to the cottage. She volunteered as an afterschool tutor and got to know some of the younger kids who hung out at the Centre, including Julian’s little sister and one of the Lopez-Fitzgerald boys, between whom a romance seemed to be blossoming. Liz also got to know a new employee at the centre, a woman with a caring smile and who was always there to lend an ear.

One day, after a meeting of the Centre’s board of directors, this woman approached Reggie and asked what he knew of Liz’s backstory. He awkwardly told her about Eve and her relationship with his son and the scandalous love-child with Julian Crane that brought down his evil father. The woman was amazed when she saw a photo of Eve. “This woman is the reason I came to Harmony! I know it sounds crazy, but I ran into her once and she told me about this town. She said I belong here.”

The woman from the Youth Centre said something else during their conversation about Liz, deliberately planting a seed in Reggie’s mind. After several weeks of mulling it over, he finally broached the idea with his wife. Geraldine loved it, but ultimately what mattered was how Liz felt. And even though Reginald would have preferred his wife talk to the promising teen athlete, she insisted that he talk to Liz himself.

Finally one day after practice, Reginald brought it up. Liz’s eyes filled with tears. She was speechless. “Yes,” she finally said, throwing her arms around him. “Yes, I would love that so much!”

Later that week, Reginald and Geraldine signed the paperwork legally adopting Liz Sanbourne. She was sixteen years old, she could have continued essentially living as an emancipated minor, but what Liz longed for more than anything were parents. Real parents, who would love and protect her the way hers never had. In the Russells, she found that mother and father.

Reginald bashfully said he couldn’t take full credit for the idea; it had really been the youth centre employee she should thank. This, in turn, gave Liz an idea.

“Sam,” she said one night over her strawberry milkshake. They were out for dessert at the local chocolate shoppe (what would, years later, be developed into the Book Café by Beth Wallace). “I know you’re lonely. I know you’re still struggling to get over Ivy.”

“Not true!” he protested. But they both knew this was a lie.

“What if I told you knew the perfect woman for you?”

He laughed. “Liz, I’m a police officer. I know better than anyone it would be illegal for me to date one of your classmates,” he said with a wink.

Liz made a threatening gesture, as though she planned to flick a straw full of ice cream at him.

“The _woman_ I had in mind is legal age.”

“I don’t know,” he said warily. “Blind dates have never really been my thing…”

“Please, Sam. I owe this woman a lot, and I think you would both make each other really happy. I know she’s single and still pretty new in town. I don’t know if she’d had a lot of luck making friends yet.”

Finally he relented. That Friday night, at half-past seven, there was a ring at Sam’s bell. He answered and the woman standing on the other side of the door took his breath away.

“Hi,” she said, equally taken aback by the beautiful person standing in front of her. “My name is Grace.”

THE END


End file.
